Both Time Warner Cable and Comcast announced expansions of their mobile WiMAX service offerings, a further indication the MSOs are upping their support for Clearwire's (NASDAQ: CLWR) WiMAX.
Time Warner said it will take WiMAX to business users through its new Business Class Mobile offering. The service will first be available in several markets in Texas, including Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, San Antonio and Wichita Falls. Time Warner will expand the service to other markets later this year. The company currently offers its consumer-oriented Road Runner Mobile WiMAX service in Texas as well as Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro, N.C., and Honolulu and Maui, Hawaii.
Time Warner's business service comes into two flavors: "4G National Premium" plans starting at $65 per month and "4G Premium" options starting at $45 per month. The 4G Premium plan is for subscribers with embedded WiMAX devices and the 4G National Premium plan comes with a free 3G/4G USB modem from Franklin Wireless with a two-year contract. Time Warner is also bundling the new options with other services; customers with additional Business Class Data Services will receive a $15 per month discount for the 4G National Premium plan and a $5 per month discount for the 4G Premium plan, according to Multichannel News, which cited information from Time Warner.
Separately, Comcast said it will launch its High-Speed 2go-branded WiMAX service in Boston and Houston this quarter, an indication that Clearwire will light up those markets soon.
Both Comcast and Time Warner Cable are investors in and wholesale partners of Clearwire, which plans to expand its mobile WiMAX network to 80 markets covering 120 million POPs by the end of the year. Clearwire's other planned market launches this year include Denver, Kansas City, Minneapolis, New York City, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
For more:
- see this release
- see this Multichannel News article
- see this DSL Reports post
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