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Pondering a formal Sprint Clearwire relationship
What might a pragmatic partnership between Sprint and Clearwire actually look like?
The potential partnership between US operators Sprint and Clearwire resembles the rise and fall of current political campaigns. After the outline for a partnership to establish a nationwide WiMAX network was tabled in 2007, the companies have more recently resumed talks about collaboration and roaming agreements.
Collaboration between the two network operators consists of developing similar network architecture with common back-end systems and partners. The companies have also partnered with Google for web applications and mobile search tools. The common infrastructure and services make creation of a roaming agreement straight-forward. Subscribers to one service will be able to roam onto the other provider's network for increased service area coverage and use the same applications.
Sprint has developed a lab facility in Virginia to test mobile WiMAX devices from multiple vendors. Clearwire can learn significantly from Sprint's effort as the smaller company does not have the resources to establish a sophisticated, interoperability lab.
Clearwire brings distribution channel experience to a partnership. The company has an existing relationship with electronics retailer Best Buy who sells the Clearwire modem and service. It is expected that WiMAX devices will be sold through operator kiosks and storefronts in addition to consumer electronics shops and e-commerce.
The two providers are the largest owners of 2.5 GHz spectrum in the US. Clearwire covers 241 million people, including 85% of points-of-presence in the top 100 markets. The Sprint footprint is the result of assets combined during the Nextel merger. The joint portfolio of Sprint and Clearwire is estimated to yield 120 MHz at 2.5 GHz; more than the total spectrum at auction for 700 MHz today.
Speculation exists whether the two companies will eventually merge into a single national provider. With the complexities of launching initial WiMAX services, merging the two businesses could slow down the time-to-market advantage of the technology. Longer-term it could be synergistic for them to become a single provider; more apt to compete with future HSPA+ or LTE network services from Verizon Wireless or AT&T Mobility.
By Jeff Orr, ORR Technology
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