WiMAX is Not Dead: Why the Sprint-Clearwire Fallout Does Not Mean the End for WiMAX

After a plethora of rumors questioning Sprint’s commitment to WiMAX and the strength of its plans for a nationwide rollout, the answer has come: Sprint and Clearwire’s deal has come to an end. The reasons are ambiguous, with either company only supplying comments such as: “the deal was likely to introduce a level of additional complexity to each party’s business that would be inconsistent with each company’s focus.” Back in July, when Sprint and Clearwire first forged their agreement, it was clear that either company could not separately accomplish the task of successfully rolling out WiMAX on a national level. For this reason, the future of WiMAX in the United States in particular has been cast under a gloomy light.

However, does the Sprint-Clearwire fallout really mean an end for WiMAX? The answer is no. Granted, Sprint has been repeatedly cited as one of the major proponents of WiMAX in the US. Yet to assume that Sprint loosing steam would guarantee the failure of WiMAX would be entirely presumptuous. After all, rolling out WiMAX is not a project that is solely being pursued by Sprint, nor is it Sprint’s technology per se. Demand for WiMAX is international, and there are hundreds of forward-thinking companies that are eager to fill that demand in various capacities. If Sprint does indeed continue to falter, it is not necessarily a commentary on the potential of the technology itself.

Sprint is planning on going forward with developing Xohm and claims it will provide further information on its revised plans for Xohm early next year. For the time being, there are various options one can imagine for their WiMAX rollout sans Clearwire. Firstly, companies like Intel, Nokia, Motorola and Samsung all have stakes in the future of WiMAX. Sprint also has a powerful web services agreement with Google, with potential allies in the Open Handset Alliance. Strong ecosystem partners like these may sweep in with Sprint or provide other support that may help keep Sprint’s WiMAX plans afloat. In addition, much has already been accomplished. Sprint reports that they “have 10,000 sites readied for deployment, plus 1,750 base stations and 20,000 antennas ordered” and their plans for soft launches in Chicago, IL, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD are still going strong. Finally, some collaborative efforts between Sprint and Clearwire are not totally out the window. According to Sprint, “there is still the possibility of discussion on roaming, frequency/interference management and spectrum coordination.”

Sprint now has several options, and the choices it will make in that regard remain to be seen. In the meantime, regardless of the road Sprint chooses to take, WiMAX can still continue to flourish. The WiMAX ecosystem is strong, its evolution is much bigger than Sprint itself, and there are too many opportunities available for one fallout to jeopardize the long-term future of this technology.

Ari Zoldan
Launch 3 Communications
 

Friday, November 09, 2007 in Archives | Business  | Permalink |  Comments (1)