Paul Kapustka's Blog
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August 08, 2006
Sprint bets big on WiMAX for 4G
Confirming a report in the Wall Street Journal, Sprint Nextel on Tuesday confirmed that it's betting big on WiMAX for its long-expected 4G network rollout, bringing in WiMAX backers Intel, Motorola and Samsung as partners for a rollout that is supposed to go live by the end of 2007.
There are plenty of details in the WSJ piece (subscription required) and more undoubtedly soon to come, dissecting what it means for Sprint's partnerships with cable companies, what it means for Qualcomm, etc. etc.
But the big news as we see it is that this is the first true major independent commitment to WiMAX by a major U.S. service provider, and it is for Mobile WiMAX, the only version of the technology that will truly be able to compete going forward (current versions of pre-standard WiMAX, like Clearwire's, aren't mobile and require fixed base stations).
The announcement is really, really good news for Intel's Sean Maloney, a big mobile backer who needs WiMAX to win if he is to succeed in his new, more-important gig.
Posted by paul at August 8, 2006 10:30 AM