Service Providers

Clearwire Hits San Francisco Snag

Evan Kessler on November 19, 2010 | 1 comment

Clearwire is slated to rollout their service on December 15th in San Franciso, and while they’ve not announced any delay in their efforts, some parts of the “City by the Bay” might not exactly be swimming in signal when that date hits. The Board of Supervisor’s in San Fran’s Bernal Heights neighborhood recently repealed a conditional user permit given to Clear way back in July.

The purpose of the permit was to allow for the installation of five internet switch antennas in the region that would have provided better coverage in the Excelsior, the Mission, Mission Dolores, and Silver Terrace areas. Not being able to provide quality service as promised is sure to put a dent in Clearwire’s local efforts if not on a larger scale. San Francisco is after all, a major metropolitan area ranking 13th in U.S. population. Above all though, failure to impress in the region known for hosting technological innovators won’t help them shed the nail from their proverbial coffin.

There has been a growing backlash by many local residents concerned with health issues as service providers move to upgrade their networks and install new antennas, but this was not necessarily the key factor in the denial. Rather, it was due to the fact that the conditional use standards agreed upon when the original permit was signed between the American Tower Corporation for use by T-Mobile had not been met. Those conditions included landscaping, keeping the tower graffiti-free and the adding of proper fencing. It was also demanded as part of the agreement that T-Mobile legalize their antennas, which they have yet to do, but still have 3 years to comply with.… Read the rest

Malaysians Saying ‘Yes’ to YTL WiMax Service

Evan Kessler on November 17, 2010 | 7 comments

Demand for WiMax may be lacking in worldwide markets where the impending promise of LTE lingers, but not in Malaysia where the populace is craving dramatic improvements in their broadband access. Service provider YTL is benefitting from that demand as the pre-registration for their WiMax network, slated to roll out November 19th, has surpassed their initial estimates threefold.

The “Yes” wireless Internet and voice service is said to be as much as 5 times faster than most users’ current 3G network. The new WiMax network also allows customers to pick their own ID and number. While we’re sure that greater download speeds are a major factor in the exceeding of business expectations, one can never underestimate the power and promise of personalization played in the buoying the service sign ups. Although it may be an ultimately arbitrary factor for the service provider, the appeal of having a say in one’s own number might be construed as “kinda neat” for customers. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the service is that it will be billed like most utilities, not on a fixed monthly rate, but on an as used basis.

Parent company YTL Power International Bhd. will spend RM2.5 bil on its initial push to bring the service to 65% of Malaysians upon its debut this week and 80% by mid 2011. The corporation is getting assistance from Clearwater Corp, Intel Corp, Cisco Systems Inc and International Business Machines Corp on the rollout.

YTL’s executive chairman,Tan Sri Francis Yeoh, sees parallels between this new WiMax network and past technological innovations, saying that ““when people have tasted mobile Internet, they’ll never go back to mobile phone; same as when people have tasted colour television, they’ll never go back to black-and-white.” … Read the rest

WiMax Coming to LaLa Land

Evan Kessler on November 12, 2010 | 2 comments

Sunshine, occasional earthquakes, beautiful people; there are a lot of benefits to living in the nation’s number two market. Notice among those positive attributes, nowhere was speedy Internet mentioned. Well that’s because until now the City of Angels was saddled with run-of-the-mill 3G networks. That’s all slated to change on December 1st as Sprint and Clearwire flip the switch on their “4G” WiMax network.

Though there’s been foreboding news as of late regarding Clearwire’s WiMax rollout plans, it just wouldn’t seem right for LA to be lagging behind four other Golden State cities in the 4G race. Merced, Visalia, Modesto and Stockton have already been fiddling around on the network for some time and San Francisco is slated to follow in Mid-December. How long that good thing lasts remains to be seen, with Clearwire’s future finances in question. For now we’re keeping our eyes on the prize and saying hooray for arrival of WiMax networks in Hollywood. If anyone needs the increased streaming capabilities of Clearwire’s mobile broadband networks it’s those entertainment executives who are always on the go.… Read the rest

Sprint, Clearwire Duke It Out Over WiMax Phone Funds

Evan Kessler on November 11, 2010 | 2 comments

Things are getting a little testy between WiMax business partners Clearwire and Sprint as of late. With the recent 3rd quarter assessment that Clearwire is not monetarily equipped for the long-haul, the former best friends of WiMax technology in the U.S. are in a bit of a spat over the money Sprint pays Clearwire to have their WiMax-equipped smartphones operating on the latter’s network.

The ability to charge their chief stakeholder for each 4G handset means big business for Clearwire, with 3 million HTC Evo 4Gs and Samsung Epic 4Gs expected to ship by the end of 2010. Sprint is supposed to pay $4.46 to Clearwire per 4G user, but complications arise when the amount of customers living in places where access to WiMax 4G has yet to be activated is taken to account. 810,000 Sprint phone users of 4G phones are without a technology to take advantage of, and Sprint is withholding funds accordingly.

In order to resolve this situation, Sprint and Clearwire have entered arbitration, but things stand to get uglier for Clearwire if things don’t go their way. A company spokesman admitted that the loss of these per handset payouts in areas still unequipped with WiMax could result in an inability to fulfill their previously drawn up plans for further WiMax rollout across lacking U.S. markets. While from a customer’s perspective Sprint’s reluctance to payout the $4.46 makes sense, you have to wonder whether Sprint is interested in seeing the WiMax network completed so that they might continue to compete with other upcoming 4G offerings from Verizon, AT&T and MetroPCS; or whether they’re just slowly backing away from the whole scene and hoping some big company with a lot of money buys them off and makes the WiMax experiment all just go away. … Read the rest

Max Telecom Bringing WiMax Up to Speed in Bulgaria

Evan Kessler on November 9, 2010 | 5 comments

The luxury of blazing fast Internet that WiMax is supposed to afford customers doesn’t often (if ever) manifest itself at its ITU-accepted 4G rate of 100mbps. But even if the advertised technology isn’t actually capable of streaming at such great heights, it still presents an improvement over many-a-past network.Though there have been many disappointing speed issues in regards to current WiMax deployments, the good news is that there’s always room to make things better.

Bulgarian WiMax service provider, Max Telecom, is upping their game for their broadband customers in the Balkan nation by doubling the transfer rate to 8mbps. The boost in service is being made possible by a EUR 15 million equipment upgrade from Samsung. Those speeds were previously only available within Yambol and Karzhali provinces, but will now extend network coverage 65% of the population.

A successful launch of the upgrade could bring an even more robust transfer rate, as Samsung could offer Max Telecom equipment capable of reaching speeds of 32mbps. For now, Bulgaria’s capital city of Sofia has access to the 8mbps upgrade before it branches out to various other locations in three weeks time. All in all, 8mpbs isn’t too shabby. WiMax networks in more developed countries like the U.S. via Clearwire are topping out at 10mpbs. If Max Telecom’s networks can consistently stream as advertised, they’re customers are getting a pretty sweet deal– or maybe the others are just getting a raw one.

… Read the rest

Clearwire, WiMax in the U.S. on the Ropes?

Evan Kessler on November 8, 2010 | 9 comments

The writing isn’t exactly on the wall for the future of Clearwire, as much as it’s in the words of they’re most recent quarterly report:

“…we do not expect our available cash and short-term investments as of September 30, 2010 to be sufficient to cover our estimated liquidity needs for the next 12 months. We also do not expect our operations to generate positive cash flows during the next 12 months…”

The WiMax providers building on Sprint’s backbone to spread “4G” to the American masses, have effectively put themselves on life support with Verizon and AT&T standing close by to pull the plug once they rollout LTE coverage nationwide. To anyone keeping a close eye on the broadband service provider’s stagnant stock value over the past 2 years, reaching $9.25 at its highest point in September ’09, Clearwire’s financial prospects were always somewhat of a question.

Fresh off the launch of their mobile broadband service in New York,you’d think there might be a little more optimism emanating for their corporate office; their expected number of subscribers by the end of 2010 is upwards around 4 million, which is twice their initial prediction. But the bottom line remains, unless they can secure some additional funding, Clearwire may go quietly into the 4G night. It’s estimated they’ll need to raise $1 billion. In the meantime the WiMax provider has cut 15 percent of its workforce, to stave off more immediate financial ruin.

Sprint Nextel, which owns a majority stake in Clearwire and runs their WiMax service off the same network, will take a big hit if the brand becomes extinct and defaults on their loans. It could deliver a blow to Sprint’s own liquidity as a parent company. Time Warner and Comcast are also depending on Clearwire for their own branded 4G service, yet have declined to invest any more money in the technology. It would seem a curious move to not step in and help, but it shows just how little confidence they have in Clearwire’s survival instincts. As much as it would appear that WiMax is dying a slow death in its U.S. incarnation, there’s always the chance the fat lady will lose her voice before singing that final aria. Perhaps a foreign investor can swoop in and rescue WiMax from the burning building that is Clearwire’s financial woes. … Read the rest

Sprint Has Plenty to Be Thankful For This Season

Ari Zoldan on November 4, 2010 | 4 comments

Last week Sprint revealed its earnings report for the 3rd fiscal quarter, replete with signs both positive and negative. The financial period saw 600,000 additional subscribers latch onto “the Now Network.” That sizable increase in customer base was countered by a steep net decline of $911 million and a “diluted loss per share of 30 cents” that may end up causing some worry amongst consumers and shareholders. Is Sprint facing difficulties in a new era of faster, better wireless technology?

Sprint definitely has a fighting chance of competing with its top two rivals, Verizon and AT&T. With WiMAX technology putting Sprint over a year ahead of its wireless broadband network competitors, there is little doubt that Sprint is up to par on the technological front. Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse noted, “more customers switched to Sprint from our competitors than switched from Sprint to our competitors.” The increase in subscriber growth isn’t an arbitrary event concocted by Sprint marketing managers to manipulate the public on ordinary business occurrences; there is something to the fact that the subscriber growth exceeds the numbers put out by the competition.

So why would more consumers be subscribing to Sprint over the more popular service providers like Verizon and AT&T? The answer to that is all over the quarterly results report. The word that was there fourteen time, just in case anyone was counting, is the highly popular misnomer– “4G.” The term was most commonly used when referring to Sprint’s currently top-selling phones. The HTC Evo 4G and Samsung Epic 4G are impressive in their own right as next-generation smartphone specimens. Put that together with the fact that they are running on a faster network that utilizes WiMAX technology and it is practically a game changer in the technology sector.

As much as other companies can forecast releases of their own LTE networks and phones, the most those companies can do is discuss their future wireless broadband capabilities. Of the two carriers offering LTE within the next few months, only one has an LTE phone on the market. Sprint has already launched in 61 cities with two phones having been available for months.

While it may look bad, Sprint’s net loss can be blamed on the recent WiMax network expansion and that old adage, you’ve got to spend money to make money. Aside from additional WiMAX deployments, the company has increased … Read the rest

WiMax, LTE Get Another “4G” Competitor

Evan Kessler on November 3, 2010 | 1 comment

A recent decision by the International Telecommunication Union to not consider WiMax and LTE valid 4G incarnations has ironically given way to a rash of unjustified 4G quality claims.T-Mobile is the latest in the long line of service providers to proudly boast the next step of Internet quality with an ad campaign that lays claim to “America’s Largest 4G Network.”

T-Mobile’s proclamation highlights an interesting issue for the likes of CLEAR, Sprint, AT&T, Verizon and other supposed 4G peddlers. While those companies have invested billions of of dollars building out nationwide network, T-Mobile simply slapped a pretty dress on its 3G technology and called it “the sexiest Internet you’ve ever seen.”

So, how can they do that, without the ITU’s approval? Well, they can do that for two reasons: One, because the other companies did it first without living up to true 4G standards; and two, because it’s kinda (and I stress “kinda”) true. Their HSPA+ mobile broadband network has been shown to be comparable or faster than WiMax and LTE in some instances with “theoretical” download speeds of up to 21mbps.

The claim of “America’s Largest 4G Network” is a monster Sprint, Clear and company created themselves. If there ends up being a service migration to T-Mobile, they’ll have nowhere else to point the finger. The fact of the matter is, the term “4G” is fast being rendered meaningless by its saturation in advertising juxtaposed against actual network specs. If these service providers truly want to wow their customer base, they’re better off improving their individual technologies and boasting their own brands of Broadband Access technology (WiMax, LTE, or HSPA+) to differentiate from their competitors. Perhaps providers could even increase their allure by playing the easy transition card, highlighting current versions of WiMax and LTE ability to upgrade once their actual 4G relatives become available.

Even if they do do that, there’s a chance it won’t necessarily matter to consumers who just want a faster connection to go along with quality service. And are they really that much more desperate for a faster connection? If people are satisfied with the price they’re paying and the speeds at which their cell phones and Internet connect now, then no label promising greener grass on the other side of wireless broadband is guaranteed to garner any takers. People might be more inclined to wait for the real thing (WiMax … Read the rest

Sprint Expected to Ship Almost Three Million 4G Phones in 2010

ABI Research on November 3, 2010 | 1 comment

NEW YORK – November 03, 2010 -

Smartphones’ ever-growing capabilities increase the pressure to offer 4G performance. When 3G was introduced there was no need for great haste in deploying compatible handsets, but mobile’s new more ambitious range of functions is driving demand to roll out 4G (and 4G smartphones) more quickly.

According to ABI Research director Philip Solis, “Sprint’s 4G smartphone sales have been partially responsible for its recent subscriber growth. ABI Research forecasts that the carrier will ship almost three million 4G handsets for its WiMAX network by the end of 2010. That number is greater than many observers expected.”

Sprint has rolled out WiMAX in about 62 US cities to date. The latest, and one of the most significant: New York, which lit up on November 1.

In other 4G developments:

· KDDI in Japan is in the process of building an LTE network and is also part-owner of UQ Communications, a leading WiMAX provider. They are selling EVDO/WiMAX modems.

· India is still undecided on its 4G migration. “There were widespread expectations that India’s operators would opt en masse for TD-LTE, widely considered a ‘WiMAX-killer,’ says Solis, “but many of them have not yet made up their minds, while others hope to deploy WiMAX first, then switch to LTE: a shift that may prove more difficult and expensive than they expect.”

· Yota, which has accumulated 600,000 WiMAX subscribers in Russia, announced its intention to focus new rollouts on LTE and to deploy LTE alongside its existing WiMAX networks in Moscow and St. Petersburg. But it has problems with Russia’s telecoms regulator concerning allocated spectrum. Investigations will delay the carrier’s LTE plans for at least two years. Yota is also continuing its WiMAX deployments in Nicaragua and Peru.

· However there is no doubt about LTE’s long-term potential: it will certainly define the market even in the short-term, as corroborated by many operators’ ambitious LTE plans, including those of Verizon Wireless and NTT DoCoMo.

ABI Research’s “4G Subscriber, Device and Networks Market Data” contains regional, as well as selected country-level segmentation for the 4G market, including mobile WiMAX (802.16e and 802.16m) and LTE (LTE and LTE-Advanced).

It is part of the firm’s 4G Research Service.

ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide … Read the rest

WiMax Competition Brewing in Nigeria

Evan Kessler on November 2, 2010 | 2 comments

The door to broadband progress has been kicked wide open in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Several weeks ago we ran a story about Swift’ Networks WiMax trials in the nation’s largest city of Lagos; turns out they’re not the only ones trying to bring the benefit of blazing fast Internet to Africa’s most populous land.

Mobitel, one of Africa’s largest broadband service providers, today announced the launch of their Nigerian WiMax network. After its initial deployment in Lagos, funded by a US$70 Million investment, the company is ready to dole out upwards of around $350 million to further expand their network’s reach within its borders by the end of 2012.

The network has been in the making since March 2010, when Mobitel snagged a slice on the 2.3GHz spectrum from the Nigerian Communications Commission. Mobitel has not pinned all of its hopes on WiMax technology, as the buildup plans call for an eventual switch to LTE, though no time frame is mentioned for the transfer.

It remains to be seen whether Swift Networks is planning a similar buildup and standard switch, but with companies like Beceem (now owned by Broadcom) putting together 4G multi-mode platforms, it’s sure to make the shift an easier option should companies choose flight over fight.… Read the rest

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