Sprint plans WiMAX soft launch, but budget finalization still looms
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The products are out there for Sprint's WiMAX 4G wireless network, and the network service finally might follow, according to officials of Sprint and the WiMAX Forum.
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Sprint Nextel and Clearwire are back in talks about a possible WiMax joint venture after&#160;a previous attempt to work together fell apart last year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.Sprint&#39;s continued downhill slide, spurred by defecting Nextel customers, means the deal would make even more sense now, Nadine Manjaro, a senior analyst with ABI Research, told IDG News Service.&quot;They&#39;ve lost so much from iDEN (Integrated Digital Enhanced Network) defections, they don&#39;t really have the money to invest in WiMax,&quot; she said. iDEN is the push-to-talk technology used in Nextel&#39;s network, which Sprint bought in 2005 and continues to struggle to digest.Clearwire and Sprint, which own the bulk of 2.5GHz spectrum in the country, said in July last year that&#160;they planned to jointly build a nationwide WiMax network. But in November the companies said they had failed to reach a final agreement, and terminated their letter of intent.Since then, Sprint hasn&#39;t managed to improve its fortunes. The third-largest operator in the U.S., Sprint&#39;s subscriber base declined by 337,000 in the quarter ending Sept. 30. &quot;Sprint is not doing so well now,&quot; Manjaro said.Rather than building a scaled-down network with the assets it has, Sprint would do better if it partnered with Clearwire and also opened up to outside investors, said Manjaro, who worked for Sprint until last April.From the beginning, she said, Sprint hoped to attract investors to help build the network. &quot;They realized it would take a lot of money,&quot; she said. Attracting other parties has now become more urgent. &quot;They didn&#39;t anticipate being in the financial position they are in now,&quot; she said.Ideally, Sprint and Clearwire would create a joint venture that would allow each company to retain a stake in the company but also attract other companies, possibly Intel or Google, to provide needed capital, she said. A combined company would be able to negotiate better deals from vendors, she said.Clearwire has already built wireless broadband networks in 16 U.S. states. Sprint has launched services in Baltimore, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., under the Xohm brand.Spokespeople from Clearwire and Sprint declined to comment on the possibility of any renewed talks.
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* Sprint&#39;s strong wireless Internet service and Nextel&#39;s walkie- talkie feature popular among mobile professionals would be a competitive combination.
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Sprint Nextel Corp  is on track  to launch commercial services for its next-generation WiMax  high-speed wireless network at the end of April, Chief  Technology Officer Barry West said on Tuesday.
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More details of Sprint's WiMax initiative at CES, including pledges by several partners and Sprint that the effort is on track.
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A Sprint official acknowledges, however, that the carrier's full-scale deployment still awaits budget approval by new management.
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Three companies are set to use the backdrop of the 2008 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to debut a device that can use WiMAX technology to make calls.
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The merger of Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications, unveiled last week in a deal valued at more than $35 billion, is likely to spur deployment of broadband wireless services as three giant
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Speculation is mounting that Sprint will provide cheaper flat-rate calling plans than those announced this week by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile.
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Sprint Nextel Corp  on Tuesday  said it will spend up to $3 billion over two years to build a  high-speed wireless data network using WiMax technology in a  bid to capture new growth from emerging mobile services.
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Sprint Nextel  is on track to  launch commercial services for its next-generation WiMax  high-speed wireless network at the end of April, Chief  Technology Officer Barry West said on Tuesday.
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(InfoWorld) - Sprint Nextel and Clearwire have entered an agreement to jointly build the first nationwide WiMax network in the U.S., the two companies announced Thursday. The vendors will work together on the WiMax network and expect to offer service to a broad range of users, including the U.S. government, public safety agencies, businesses, and consumers, they said. The two companies plan to reach 100 million U.S customers by the end of 2008, said Gary Forsee, Sprint Nextel chairman and CEO, during a press conference. The WiMax network, which will be marketed under a common brand, will compete with and compliment existing broadband services, he said. The deal "will fundamentally change the communications landscape in this country," added Ben Wolff, Clearwire CEO. "By working together, a nationwide network becomes possible." Sprint Nextel will build out about 65 percent of the network, and Clearwire will build out the remaining 35 percent, the companies said. The agreement still needs to be finalized, and it will be subject to regulatory approval by the U.S. Department of Justice and spectrum transfers from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Sprint Nextel will focus on geographic areas covering approximately 185 million people, including 75 percent of the people located in the 50 largest U.S. markets, while Clearwire will concentrate on areas covering approximately 115 million people. A year ago, Sprint Nextel announced its plans for a nationwide WiMax network. The partnership with Clearwire allows Sprint Nextel to invest less money to create a nationwide network, Forsee said. The agreement will also allow the two companies to provide customers with "more breadth and depth of support," he added. The partners said the wireless network will provide broadband-speed Internet access to customers. The agreement will enable "seamless" roaming across the network, Forsee said. WiMax is designed to operate more than five times faster than current third-generation wireless networks. The arrangement will allow the exchange of spectrum between Sprint Nextel and Clearwire to enable each company to build out its portion of the network and to enhance service in its buildout territory, the companies said. Clearwire will be able to use some of Sprint Nextel's wireless infrastructure. The initial term of the arrangement is 20 years, with three 10-year renewal periods.
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Almost a year after Sprint Nextel Corp. disclosed it would develop a mobile broadband network using WiMax technology, the wireless provider said yesterday it is teaming up with competing provider Clearwire Corp. to help build it.
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Sprint has started the process of launching its Xohm mobile WiMax network with a "soft launch" to a limited number of users in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington.
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Sprint, the fourth-largest US cell phone operator, has started a $3 billion network upgrade, with $1 billion earmarked for a wireless broadband service to launch soon in selected cities, a Sprint executive said Tuesday.
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Collaborations to help spread WiMAX are still up in the air.
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Chinese manufacturer ZTE may supply Sprint with handsets for upcoming high-speed WiMax.