Independent Clearwire Blog

(Prediction) Clearwire Takes Over Sprint Nextel 2.5 GHz Spectrum

Excerpt from Good Day, BWIA - BWIA Predictions / Trends for 2008 (Part 2) in Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) / WiMAX News

I don't see any way in which this isn't inevitable. Clearwire has the vision, but they'll need a lot more money, and although it's a bit nuts, Clearwire apparently still isn't deploying Mobile WiMAX in new markets. Sprint Nextel will struggle just to rationalize its Nextel 800 MHz conversion and its Sprint 1.9 GHz CDMA networks and streamline their overall businesses - it simply can't afford, or significantly fund Mobile WiMAX on 2.5 GHz spectrum - even if the strident shareholders were supportive, which they're not.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh except for specifically-marked excerpts. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged).

Dan Hesse named newest chair-warmer of Sprint Nextel CEO offices

I don't know what to make of the apparent coincidence of the news of Dan Hesse being named CEO of Sprint Nextel, and a story about same being reported pretty deadpan in, of all online new sources, Pravda. Hesse's got his work cut out for him at Sprint Nextel, but at least he's got some background in the wireless business from a stint at AT&T Wireless Services. In the wireless industry, Hesse's better known for being lured from AT&T Wireless Services to become CEO of Terabeam Corp., a Seattle-based company that tried to pioneer 1 Gbps Internet connectivity from rooftops to windows in urban areas using innovative new optical technology. Terabeam is still a bit infamous in the Seattle area having gone through tens of millions in venture capital before ignominiously selling what little remained of its technology and its name to a scrappy, rapaciously ambitious vendor of Wi-Fi technology then called YDI Wireless, who went on to purchase Proxim out of bankruptcy.

New BWIA Deployments - Clearwire, Alaska Communications Systems, Verizon Wireless, and Alltel

Excerpt from Good Day, BWIA - Monday, 2007-12-17 in Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) / WiMAX News.

One of the larger (relatively speaking) BWIA news buzzes today... yet another slow BWIA news day... is that Clearwire has launched (still apparently proprietary Motorola Expedience, not Mobile WiMAX... but, to Clearwire's credit, at least they're not trying to spin it as "kind of WiMAX-ish") a new service area in Rochester, New York, a burg of about 220,000 souls. But on the same day:

• Alaska Communications Systems reported that they have expanded CDMA coverage in Peterspurg, Alaska,
• Verizon Wireless expanded its CDMA / 1xEV-DO network in Northwest Indiana, and
• Just in time for that gift of always-on Broadband Internet Access to the folks back in Helena, Missoula, Billings, and [other Montana] communities along Interstates 94 and 90 that can't get DSL or cable modem, and satellite Broadband Internet Access still sucks and is too expensive... Alltel has expanded its CDMA/1xEV-DO network in Montana.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh except for specifically-marked excerpts. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged).

Sprint keeps sending out feelers what to do about its 2.5 GHz spectrum - wither Mobile WiMAX?

Excerpt from Good Day, BWIA - Tuesday on Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) / WiMAX News:

Sprint Nextel's fumbling of its proposed Mobile WiMAX network and its pandering to its investors that it's "investigating options" for its 2.5 GHz spectrum is, to me, really starting to impact on Sprint Nextel's overall credibility. Sprint Nextel's latest ramblings, reported in the Financial Times, simply smack of desperation. It's abundantly "clear" (no pun initially intended) that Clearwire is the only US company poised to take full advantage of 2.5 GHz in the US to offer Broadband Wireless Internet Access services. AT&T and Verizon Wireless would probably be willing to buy Sprint Nextel's 2.5 GHz spectrum, but that would be a horrific strategic blunder in making those two behemoths an even stronger competitive threat against Sprint Nextel - expedited corporate suicide. T-Mobile has its corporate hands full and isn't in position to exploit 2.5 GHz.

Clearwire new service area - Charlotte, North Carolina... but apparently not Mobile WiMAX

Excerpt from Good Day, BWIA - Tuesday on Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) / WiMAX News:

Conspicuously absent from the announcement of a new service area for Clearwire is the word WiMAX. At all... the word is simply not present at all in the announcement that Clearwire now offers service in the Charlotte area. Curious...

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh except for specifically-marked excerpts. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged).

Slow BWIA News Day - Pontification

Excerpt from Good Day, BWIA - Monday on Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) / WiMAX News:

Very slow news day; apparently the BWIA newsmakers are catching their breath after a busy week last week. So, like Glenn Fleishman, I'll take this opportunity to pontificate a bit. I'll be terse, and perhaps a bit mysterious here - I intend GDBWIA to be "light" and a quick read, and save the long-winded, in-depth pieces for FOCUS. That said, here goes.

The telecommunications industry is entering another inflection point, similar to what happened to it with the rise of the Internet, and the rise of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephony, and "pure" VOIP like Skype. We're just beginning to see the dimensions of the next generation of wireless. We're experience a severe clash between the comfortable, familiar, and safe technology evolution, and the disruptive technology of Mobile WiMAX. Investments and commitments continue to pour into conventional wireless telephony, most recently, Verizon Wireless' stated intent that "Long Term Evolution" LTE is what it plans to use for the direction of its network. But the potential of Mobile WiMAX technology to offer very efficient use of spectrum, optimized for TCP/IP / Internet and able to easily deliver multiple megabits  per second and integrated (and high-quality through bandwidth reservation protocols) VOIP is highly disruptive. If Mobile WiMAX gets a "toehold" in a market against more conventional wireless telephony, it could easily out-compete wireless telephony.