Wireless Connectivity

Clearwire promises a fully-open, "third pipe" WiMAX network

Written by Anonymous on 12:14 AM

Some spectrum watchers were disappointed by the results of the recent 700MHz auction. They had grand dreams of Google swooping in, dropping millions of dollars, and picking up a nationwide license that it would use to offer high-speed wireless broadband that could be accessed from any device, would support any application, and which would be resold at wholesale rates to anyone else—"line-sharing" come to wireless. While the dream vanished beneath the cold reality of Google's merely strategic bidding, the basic idea may still come true; Sprint Nextel and Clearwire are promising that their new WiMAX network will support both open access and wholesale access and that it will reach 140 million people by the end of 2010.

A lengthy document filed this week with the FCC asks for permission to merge the 2.5GHz spectrum assets of Sprint and Clearwire into "New Clearwire," the company backed by Sprint, Clearwire, Intel, Time Warner, Google, and Bright House. In the filing, Clearwire makes the case that it will provide true "third pipe" Internet access to home and mobile users at speeds of 6Mbps (and 3Mbps uplink).

The companies involved know how to make the right promises:

• "New Clearwire will permit consumers to use any lawful device that they want so long as it is compatible with and not harmful to the WiMAX network"

• "New Clearwire also will permit consumers to download and use any software applications, content, or services they desire, subject only to reasonable network management practices and law enforcement and public safety considerations"

• "New Clearwire will offer non-exclusive wholesale access to its network"

• "New Clear wire will deploy an advanced mobile WiMAX broadband network that will cover up to 140 million people in the United States in 30 months"

Both Sprint and Clearwire have constructed WiMAX networks. Sprint's, which was to have been marketed under the name Xohm, is up and undergoing testing in Chicago and the Washington, DC area, while Clearwire currently offers service in 50 markets in the US and Europe and is building its first mobile WiMAX service in Portland. Skepticism about WiMAX as a technology hasn't yet been completely dispelled, but Sprint and Clearwire claim that "each of these systems has consistently demonstrated the ability to deliver up to 6Mbps downlink and up to 3Mbps uplink while the end user is moving at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour."

The combined company's build out schedule looks aggressive, but the new Clearwire is spurred on by billions in cash ponied up by its partners and by the imminent 4G threat coming from AT&T, Verizon, and others. Most other wireless operators in the US have already announced plans to develop Long Term Evolution (LTE)-based 4G networks, but Clearwire could beat most of them to market with an aggressive deployment schedule. With the backing of Intel, which has its own grandiose plans to slap WiMAX radios into tons of laptops, Clearwire appears to have at least a real chance of making inroads into the broadband market for both home and mobile users. And executives announced today that they hope to cover 220 million people by 2017.

One interesting tidbit that emerged from the filing was the fact that Sprint, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks "have already committed to enter into non-exclusive wholesale agreements with New Clearwire." Under the arrangement, the companies will become mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) that can resell Clearwire services under the own brands, giving the cable companies in particular a way to offer the ridiculously-named "quadruple play" of voice, video, data, and wireless. The pitch is simple: pay one bill and have seamless access to a high-speed network while at home and a 6Mbps national wireless data network the moment you walk out the door.

Google also has the right to resell service, but we're skeptical such a thing would happen. Instead, it seems far more likely that the company will try to boost the network's attractiveness by building "novel Internet applications and services for WiMAX devices operating over the New Clearwire and other WiMAX broadband networks," just as the filing says it will.

By Nate Anderson