Sprint’s Hesse Shows Off Post-SoftBank With a “Spark” of Speed

Sprint’s CEO Dan Hesse landed in Silicon Valley, in his most prominent appearance after the completion of the carrier’s $21.6 billion acquisition by Japan’s SoftBank for 80 percent of the company. That included the launch of six new devices on its network in November 2013 and a touting of a number of new features, especially its Sprint Spark, an offering of ultra-fast wireless data speeds that would be among the fastest around. The 60-megabits-per-second service is being deployed in five cities -- New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Tampa and Miami -- but hopes to be in 100 US cities over the next several years. The first smartphones that will be able to use Sprint Spark will include Samsung’s Galaxy Mega and S4 mini.