Sprint Nextel has announced plans to spend $5 billion on an expanded nationwide 4G wireless broadband network based on the WiMax technology standard.

According to The Financial Times, the new network services, called Xohm, will be about fives times faster than current mobile data speeds. Sprint will use half the money on the network; the other half will go to expanding its reach to about 125 million people.

Last month, the telecom announced a network sharing agreement with Clearwire, an existing Wimax service provider, that will help them deploy more quickly.

Sprint Nextel has dealt with network problems since the two merged, but is it is hoped that, being the first to deploy a WiMax network, the company may find its stride after all.