Sprint's traditional CDMA network, the iDEN architecture inherited through Sprint's Nextel acqusition, and the future 4G WiMAX network known as Xohm, may all be implemented under an IP-based "unified service architecture."

In a keynote speech at the VON.x conference in San Jose, Sprint officials were talking in the direction of building an IP-based "Unified Service Architecture" to act as the basis for all three of the company's wireless networks.

"You need to have a unified service architecture at the heart of the network that is agnostic [to] those underlying technologies at the edge," said Ben Vos, Sprint's VP of core technologies, Accessible across various wireless devices, the new network will combine a common optical backbone; an IP network and multimedia subsystem; and a cell-site infrastructure, according to Vos.

If plans like these reach fruition, Sprint will become the first and/or only major US wireless carrier with an IP-based backbone, something that Verizon and AT&T Wireless both lack.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is expected to elaborate on Sprint's intentions for its three networks in a keynote speech at the CTIA conference during the first week of April.

In a recent conference call with financial analysts, however, Hesse hinted that Sprint might "increase the synergies" between its CDMA and IDEN networks on its way to building a common platform.

"What's the current thought process on migrating from the iDEN network to a single CDMA network so you can get to one core network down the road?" asked Will Power, an analyst at Robert W. Baird, during the call.

"We have evaluated this, and we believe that each network has its unique advantages and unique strengths," Hesse responded. "There clearly is more we can do to increase [what] we'll call the synergies between the two networks whether it's being a shared common backbone platform [or] sharing more cell sites. As you know, we've been integrating to one billing system [and] we're integrating rate plans."