Re: NEWS: Sprint & Clearwire scrap wireless plans, WiMAX proves toorisky (as I predicted) John Navas wrote:
> As I predicted:
>
> <http://www.sourcewire.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=35187>
>
> According to Bond this is a step backwards for WiMAX, after an
> otherwise positive year in which several small operators have
> launched or started rolling out commercial WiMAX services, and Sprint
> Nextel announced plans to deploy WiMAX for its future mobile
> broadband services.
WiMax was pretty much a dead end road pursued by the cellular companies
as a profit avenue to compete against Muni-WiFi.
Quoted from Telephone magazine -
WiMAX follows muni Wi-Fi down slow-go path
By Rich Karpinski
Big news in the WiMAX market this week as Sprint and Clearwire cancelled
a joint venture to build a nationwide WiMAX network. Each plan to go it
alone, they claim, but with Sprint facing corporate headaches and
Clearwire limited in its ability to quickly find new partners, the goal
of nationwide WiMAX undoubtedly took a hit.
Coupled with ongoing problems faced by municipal Wi-Fi projects, the
vision of alternative wireless broadband services emerging has run into
a healthy dose of reality. And while press reports this week had Google
(not to mention Comcast) stepping in to the WiMAX breach, that
apparently was as big a fantasy as the so-called gPhone.
The challenges for the Sprint-Clearwire project turned out to be more
business- than technology-related -- much as has been the case with muni
Wi-Fi. When Sprint CEO Gary Forsee resigned recently, under growing
criticism of Sprint's poor financial performance, the fate of the
high-profile but risky partnership was most likely sealed.
For now, Clearwire is pursuing its network launch alone. Company
officials will launch its first WiMAX networks in mid-2008 and aim to
pick up markets where it would have counted on Sprint by the following
year. But WiMAX's lead in the race to deliver next-generation wireless
has clearly suffered a setback. |