Contrary to popular belief, T-Mobile USA is not lagging rival carriers in building a nationwide 4G network, Senior Vice President Frank Sickinger asserted in an interview. "My belief is our [LTE launch] timing is perfect. If you look at the pioneering work, there were a lot of misfires," he said, adding that the carrier has already lit up a bunch of sites with Long-Term Evolution technology but will wait until the entire network is completed before making public disclosures. Spectrum gained from the failure of its merger with AT&T has helped T-Mobile convert its 37,000 HSPA+ sites to LTE Advanced for a late 2013 launch, Sickinger said.