Comcast will use WiMAX Femtocells

At a conference in London, Comcast's senior vice president of wireless and technology Dave Williams revealed that part of the cable company's deal with Clearwire calls for 5 MHz of spectrum across the U.S. to be set aside solely for WiMAX femtocells. Williams said that Comcast would have liked to have more spectrum for femtocells but that this was the best deal it could negotiate.

The femtocell spectrum will be available for any of the new Clearwire partners to use, but Williams said that the cable companies will have the most incentive to use it because it allows them to cost-effectively deliver wireless to the home.

Cable companies Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks were part of the consortium (which includes Google and Intel) that invested $3.2 billion in the new Clearwire. The cable companies plan to wholesale WiMAX services via Clearwire to their customers.

For more:
- See this Light Reading story

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