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Live from WiMAX World: 133M WiMAX users by 2012

Sue Marek — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:32:55 -0400

CHICAGO-- The U.S. economy may be in shambles but that didn't deter swarms of WiMAX proponents from converging in Chicago for the 5th Annual WiMAX World conference. During the opening session, WiMAX Forum President Ron Resnick touted the progress WiMAX has made in various markets, saying that more than 100 networks worldwide are in commercial deployment. He also said that the industry group predicts there will be 133 million WiMAX users by 2012.

But he noted that there are some challenges ahead--particularly roaming. The WiMAX Forum has been working on this issue and Resnick said the group will introduce a roaming readiness program in December where it will work in conjunction with roaming clearinghouses (such as iPass) to develop roaming specifications for all WiMAX operators.

WiMAX may have had great growth overseas but all eyes at the conference are on the U.S. WiMAX players. In particular Clearwire, which earlier this year announced a joint venture with Sprint's WiMAX business to create the "new" Clearwire. That joint venture is expected to close by year-end. Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff told the WiMAX World audience this morning that his company currently covers 16 million POPs and has about 500,000 subscribers using its "pre-WiMAX" service. He added that nearly one-third of those customers have access to cable and DSL and that about 20 percent still keep their wireline broadband service even though they are subscribing to Clearwire.

He described the company's future relationship with cable companies such as Comcast and Time Warner (both of which are investors in the "new" Clearwire) as being both competitors and collaborators. "They will resell services to their customers and so will we," Wolff said.

Like Time Warner and Comcast, Google is also an investor in the new Clearwire. Wolff said that he envisions Clearwire taking advantage of that relationship by using the Android platform in its devices. "We will embrace this platform," he said. In addition, he said that Clearwire will likely take advantage of Google's search platform and advertising model.

Comcast exec sees end of year Clearwire close

Jim Barthold — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 07:40:39 -0400

Comcast, which was a regional mobile wireless player before it sold off that "non-essential" business to Cingular back in the 1990s, is eager to get back into the space as a member of the new Clearwire joint venture which a Comcast exec expects to close late this year.

Comcast President Steve Burke predicted that the new mobile WiMAX service, which is being driven by Sprint, would let cable operators offer "wireless data speeds that Verizon and AT&T can't match" and would give Comcast a fourth piece of its services bundle to accompany wireline voice, video and high-speed data.

Clearwire's CFO John Butler fueled Burke's optimism by telling a Jefferies Group conference that the merger is on track to close in the fourth quarter of this year despite an attempt by AT&T to block the deal with regulatory authorities. A skittish financial market, he said, may also present a problem because the company feels no present urgency to tap capital markets.

For more:
- see this article

Related:
New Sprint-Clearwire deal a shot in the arm for mobile WiMAX. Article

AT&T bans users from wireless P2P sharing

Sue Marek — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:50:22 -0400

In a letter to FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, AT&T revealed that it doesn't allow its wireless subscribers to use file-sharing applications and will terminate service to anyone who tries. The carrier says that these types of applications can hinder network capacity and degrade the quality of the network for other users.

However, the letter, which was written by Robert Quinn, AT&T's senior vice president of federal regulatory affairs, also says that the company doesn't use any network management tools to block the use of P2P applications. Instead the carrier warns customers in writing.

The issue of banning P2P traffic has come to the forefront because the FCC is closely eyeing cable operators that are accused of blocking P2P traffic on their networks. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin views it as a potential violation of the agency's net neutrality principles.

For more:
- see this article

Related stories:
FCC's Martin wants Comcast to pay for P2P blocking
Mobile operators face peer-to-peer pressure

Clearwire's stock in the pits

Lynnette Luna — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:57:34 -0400

Clearwire's stock hit a 52-week low on the Nasdaq Tuesday, dropping as low as $8.98 a share. The operator, which is planning to merge with Sprint Nextel's WiMAX business with the help of billions from investment partners Intel, Google and cable operators Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House, has seen its shares fall steadily since early June. But the stock fell below $10 at the end of last week. The shares remain in the pits despite recent upgrades from the likes of RBC Capital markets, which initiated coverage with an "outperform" rating and a target price of $17. Citigroup also recently upgraded the operator's target price to $13 a share.

For more:
- see Unstrung

Related stories:
Introducing the "new" Clearwire. Clearwire story
New Sprint-Clearwire deal a shot in the arm for mobile WiMAX. Sprint-Clearwire editorial

Comcast invests in mobile broadband firm

Sue Marek — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:05:04 -0400

Comcast is making more inroads in mobile broadband. The cable firm made a seed-round investment in Littleton, Mass.-based startup Cartiza Networks, which is developing an IP-based content management and delivery system for mobile broadband networks. Cartiza raised $12.6 million in venture capital funding in 2007 and its investors include Comcast Interactive Capital, Prism VentureWorks and the Business Development Bank of Canada. The company reportedly is in "stealth" mode and has not publicly discussed its technology or strategy. However, the firm is a member of the WiMAX Forum.

The investment is interesting considering Comcast's other mobile broadband plays--most notably its investment in the new Clearwire. In May, Sprint and Clearwire announced that they will combine their WiMAX businesses and create a new company, called Clearwire, that will include a $3.2 billion investment from Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Trilogy Equity Partners.

For more:
- see this Multichannel News article

Related stories:
Comcast CEO offers insight on Clearwire investment
Introducing the "new" Clearwire

Comcast will use WiMAX Femtocells

Sue Marek — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:47:11 -0400

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

Related stories:
Seybold: The New Clearwire--Will it succeed?
Introducing the 'new' Clearwire
Clearwire expects 30 million subs by 2017

Clearwire expects 30 million subs by 2017

Sue Marek — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:09:28 -0400

Clearwire executives told investors this morning that the "new" Clearwire will have 30 million customers and will generate $17.5 billion in annual revenue by 2017. Scott Richardson, Clearwire chief strategy officer, said that Clearwire subscribers will use a mixture of fixed and mobile voice and data services.

In May, the new Clearwire was formed by Sprint and the existing Clearwire, along with $3.2 billion in financing from Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Intel, Google, Bright House Networks and Trilogy Equity Partners. Clearwire CEO Benjamin Wolff assured investors that the new Clearwire will not be controlled by Sprint. The carrier will have seven of the 13 seats on the Clearwire board but one of those seats must be an independent director. In addition, Wolff provided more details on how companies such as Sprint, Comcast and others will resell Clearwire's service to subscribers.

For more:
- see this article

Related stories:
Comcast CEO offers insight on Clearwire investment
Seybold: The New Clearwire - Will it succeed?
New Sprint-Clearwire deal a shot in the arm for mobile WiMAX

Comcast CEO offers insight on Clearwire investment

Lynnette Luna — Fri, 30 May 2008 11:38:59 -0400

Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts shed a little more light on the company's reasons behind investing more than a billion in the new Clearwire. Comcast, TimeWarner, Sprint, Google and Intel and others are all investors in the new Cleawire, which will go ahead with plans to launch a nationwide mobile WiMAX network.

Roberts addressed his company's investment during the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Strategic Decisions Conference in New York, where he declared "that there was no opportunity out there quite as elegant." To start with, Comcast is getting a wholesale "founders deal" for its 7 percent, $1.5 billion investment, and that the partners involved in the deal all have a desire "to create a, wow, better-than, not a me-too, high-speed experience for a variety of applications."

Roberts said he became a WiMAX convert partly because of Clearwire's WiMAX demo that showed video at 50 miles per hour. He also mentioned that the assets of the deal--namely 150 megahertz per market of spectrum and the 3G roaming component of the deal--helped the company decide in favor of Clearwire rather than the other wireless plans it was considering. Roberts indicated the roaming piece was critical in getting the venture off the ground.

To read more about Roberts' Cleawire comments:
- check out this article from Unstrung

Related stories:
Seybold: The New Clearwire- Will it succeed? Read this Clearwire commentary
New Sprint-Clearwire deal a shot in the arm for mobile WiMAX. Read this Cleawire editorial

Seybold: The New Clearwire- Will it succeed?

Andrew M. Seybold — Wed, 28 May 2008 08:49:41 -0400

There has been a lot of positive press about the "new" Clearwire, a company that was put together from the original Clearwire, Sprint's Xohm, Google, Comcast, Intel and a few other players. This new company also received an infusion of $3.2 billion on top of what has already been spent by Clearwire and Sprint. The consensus in the press is that this new wireless broadband system will now have a chance to succeed.

Well, once again, I am one of the few who don't agree. Others point to the fact that the effort is led by Craig McCaw who has a "Midas" touch when it comes to wireless, that is unless you go back and look carefully at his track record and then you will find that perhaps it is not as good as myth has it.

But the real problem with the network is that those building it and those pouring money into it are hyping the capabilities of the network to the point where it will be a disappointment when it is turned on. WiMAX, as it is being deployed by Clearwire, is a 3G technology, not, as many people are saying, a 4G technology. The first true WiMAX mobile installation is being completed in Portland and Sprint has done a "soft launch" in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. At this point, we have no published data from tests being conducted on the network. Nor do we have any results when it comes to speeds and network capacity. It is odd to me that we are still only hearing about the speeds that are predicted and not real-world speeds that have been measured in the field.

The big driver for this network is that it be what Google wanted from the 700 MHz auction--a completely open network, capable of being used for any information from any source. Any device capable of WiMAX can be purchased in a store and added to the network quickly and easily. There will be no walled garden. There will be nothing preventing you from getting to anything you want including Google searches, streaming audio and video, large files and more. Of course, Intel will be building a WiMAX chipset for inclusion in any notebook and any Internet appliance. In fact, Intel's vision extends to game devices, navigation systems and perhaps even items such as dog collars.

You will be able to buy a combination device that will enable you to use the Sprint CDMA network for voice and WiMAX for data. Or you will be able to buy a device that will enable you to use the Sprint EV-DO network for broadband data while the Clearwire network is being rolled out. When you are not in a city that has WiMAX, you will be able to use the existing Sprint high-speed network. My guess is that the existing Sprint network will have speeds and coverage that is so much better that people will wonder why they bothered with WiMAX. But that, too, will be due to the wave of hype in advance of the system.

We are being promised a fully open network, voice and data (VoIP on WiMAX), that will "deliver four times the throughput of other technologies at one-tenth the cost," according to Barry West, the then President of Sprint's Xohm 4G business unit that is now a part of Clearwire. Well, if you start adding up what Clearwire has spent plus what Sprint has spent, plus the new funding put into this new company, you end up with billions in costs. By the time they are done, they will be nowhere close to one-tenth of the cost of existing 3G systems. Consider this: To cover 75 percent of the U.S. population (not land mass) in the new 700 MHz band, you will need about 22,000 cell sites. To cover this same population at 2.5 GHz, which is where the Clearwire system is being built, you will need 65,000 cell sites.

WiMAX is not a bad technology. The current version has not been well designed for true mobility. It is a 3G wireless technology and it will be used in many places where there is no infrastructure available today. However, in an environment where there are three established broadband networks (soon to be four with T-Mobile joining the fray), I am not sure I would want to invest the billions it will take to build this system, especially when 4G technologies such as LTE and UMB are less than two years away from being deployed.

One final note here--no matter what is claimed, wireless bandwidth is shared bandwidth. A truly open network without any limitations as to who can download what and when could mean that some customers will have very slow connections while the kids next door stream their videos onto their devices. I wonder what those who believe Clearwire has to succeed because Craig McCaw, Sprint, Intel, and Goggle will make it succeed, will say when it doesn't.

Andrew Seybold is an authority on technology and trends shaping the world of wireless mobility. A respected analyst, consultant, commentator, author and active participant in industry trade organizations, his views have influenced strategies and shaped initiatives for telecom, mobile computing and wireless industry leaders worldwide. www.andrewseybold.com

Sound Off - Industry players discuss the Sprint/Clearwire WiMAX deal

Fri, 09 May 2008 11:49:32 -0400

On May 7 Sprint and Clearwire announced plans to combine their WiMax businesses and create a new company (called Clearwire) with a $3.2 billion investment from Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and others. Here's what members of the wireless industry are saying about the deal. If you would like to weigh in on this deal, answer our poll question here.

"The biggest challenge is getting all these companies that are important participants to agree on the essential value proposition, both from a marketing and distribution standpoint. How will this relate to Sprint, if Sprint remains a standalone wireless company? If Sprint continues to be standalone wireless company as it is today, how do they promote the value proposition of the new WiMAX entity vis-a-vis their own cellular network? What is the value proposition for Sprint if there is Clearwire? That's a key issue. Another issue is defining the essential value proposition of this network, which will essentially be a 4G network built form scratch. If its value proposition is data, this is the first time in the history of the U.S. since Metricom, that we will have a network that is solely for data. Will it be sustainable as a data-only network? I presume you will be able to run VOIP but what does that mean to the Sprint's cellular network? What does that mean for the cable companies that are already offering essentially VOIP service? --Mark Lowenstein, managing director, Mobile Ecosystem.
"This is a big day for WiMAX, and it lends a lot of credibility for us to build our business model. We have always talked about the business model first. We are talking about broadening the chipset system, getting WiMAX into consumer electronics, eliminating subsidies and instituting at-home provisioning so customers don't have to stand in line. Those are all part in parcel to really change the mobile broadband experience in a way it ought to be." --Atish Gude, senior vice president of mobile broadband operations with Xohm.
"The new Clearwire will have a substantial time-to-market advantage over others who just acquired spectrum. Clearwire will have a solid foundation for next-generation products and services. It's the largest spectrum position held by a company in America. It will provide high-capacity services at a low cost." --Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint, during a conference call about the new venture.
"This will dramatically advance WiMAX. Our expanded relationship with Intel and Google will help fulfill the vision of an open network. We will resell wireless through wholesale arrangements and bring in new wholesale revenue streams." --Ben Wolff, CEO of Clearwire, during a conference call about the new venture.
"The New Clearwire announcement is a much-needed good news story for the WiMAX industry after months of delays, uncertainty and speculation. This is important news not only in the U.S., but internationally. Many greenfield and 2G operators worldwide are closely watching the development (or lack of development) of WiMAX in the U.S. as an indication of the real prospects for 802.16e. Although I don't believe the new Clearwire deployment will reach 100 million POPs as quickly as 2010 (as stated by Clearwire), it will provide the much-needed volumes to the emerging device and application ecosystem upon which WiMAX hopes to distance itself from LTE. It remains to be seen how these diverse players will learn to work together and what will happen to Sprint's 3G + network." --Adlane Fellah, CEO & Founder, MARAVEDIS Inc.
"TBR believes Sprint and Clearwire's May 7 announcement--that the two companies will combine their WiMAX businesses into a single entity--has the potential to establish a significant competitor to the traditional U.S. wireless operators, one with a time-to-market advantage for 4G services. Moreover, the affiliation with cable operators, particularly the nations' two largest cable operators Comcast and Time Warner Cable, helps address questions regarding the business model supporting WiMAX deployment. From an equipment perspective, the announcement provides a vehicle for a number of firms seeking a presence in the next-generation mobile business, firms that had to take a back seat to larger, more established incumbents in 3G deployments. "The deal will provide efficiencies--and funding--to expedite the rollout of the network, providing the new company with a time-to-market advantage by launching a 4G network well before Verizon Wireless' and AT&T's planned LTE launches between 2010 and 2012. TBR expects the combined WiMAX assets of Sprint and Clearwire to produce significant synergies, allowing the companies to provide a nationwide network at a lower cost." --Kate Price, analyst, Technology Business Research.