Sprint promotes WiMAX to enterprise users

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) may be inching closer to announcing a move to LTE, but it is still busy promoting the uses of mobile WiMAX via Clearwire's (NASDAQ:CLWR) network. Sprint's new pitch is to enterprises; the carrier is encouraging businesses to ditch T1 lines in favor of WiMAX over Enterprise Wide Area Network for their communication needs.

Sprint said its 4G Enterprise WAN service will use professionally installed, business-class outdoor modems, and will provide secure WiMAX and EV-DO wireless access as primary or secondary network connectivity. The service is backed by a 99.95 percent availability service level agreement.

As an example of how the service can work for businesses, Sprint pointed to Explorer Pipeline, an operator of a 1,900-mile fuel pipeline from the Gulf Coast to the Midwest. Explorer Pipeline is using Sprint's service at its storage facility in Houston. Explorer estimated the cost savings for this single site at $4,500 per year over a T1 line, and it expects to roll out the service to as many as two dozen locations in the future.

For more:
- see this release
- see this GigaOM post

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