AT&T Phone Company is once again challenging the imminent merger of Sprint Nextel with Clearwire, whose aim is to merge both companies’ WiMax assets in order to create a nationwide broadband wireless network.

This merger would be huge for Wimax, estimating a deal worth 14. 5 billion dollars, and is promising to be a huge success. Just ask Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), all companies who are currently backing this magnanimous merger.

This union would be a grave threat to AT&T’s future success and longevity as a company, and therefore they are claiming that Sprint and Clearwire are “failing to make the required showings necessary for the commission’s review.” They are hoping that this new claim against Wimax would prohibit the FCC from approving its launch.

AT&T clearly understands the importance of mass mergers, seeing as how the company exists today solely because of a mergence between their company and Bellsouth. This alliance has allowed AT&T to grow and reach profound heights in profit margins and overall global accessibility. The same could all too easily occur as a result of the coalition between Sprint and Clearwire, an outcome that obviously leaves AT&T worried.

And AT&T has more than one reason to be nervous about the Wimax wireless network. AT&T is currently working on their own 3G wireless technology, but it is still light years away from the technology currently being deployed by the Sprint and Clearwire union.

With advanced technologies and unparalleled support from large corporations such as Intel and Google, it is no surprise why AT&T is scared about its ineludible launch.

While WiMAX tends to have a futuristic image, the Convergence India exhibition in Delhi proved that WiMAX and 3G mobile phone services may be affordable to the lay user sooner than predicted.

Crowds gathered at the Alcatel-Lucent stand to experience the zippy speeds of WiMAX — allowing them to stream smooth video footage, browse the Internet, carry on a video phone conversation with someone on another continent — all at the same time, around five million bits per second.
Making it happen was a matchbox-sized plug-in card that fitted into what is called the PCMCIA slot of a laptop computer.
It was visible proof that superior WiMAX speeds could be experienced today on any laptop with hardware not much different from the wireless data cards now offered by all leading Indian mobile providers. The Hindu, Anand Parthasarathy

The speed of WiMAX that allows for such multitasking is a huge attraction especially in our fast paced environment. Yet, despite the optimistic news in Delhi for WiMAX believers, doubts have been made clear by Garth Freeman, CEO of Hervey Bay’s Buzz Broadband and Australia’s first WiMAX operator. In fact, Freeman has concluded that WiMAX technology is a “miserable failure.” According to Freeman, while the main selling point of WiMAX technology to entice people to switch has been the Internet applications, the non line of sight performance was so poor that such applications including VoIP would not work.

As WiMAX technology continues to be experimented with and tested in real world applications, we will see whether or not it pays to be a believer.