September 29, 2008: That Monday was the fateful day of Sprint-Nextel’s long-awaited WiMAX rollout. Xohm launched commercially in Baltimore to great anticipation in four forms: a $35/month modem plan, a $45/month mobile service for use with a PC ExpressCard, a $65/month “pick 2″ plan, and a $10/day tryout, but it’s really the second option that brings something new to the table. Internet anywhere in a city? No wires? And not even that, but faster than your usual cabled setup too! So needless to say, many have already taken Xohm out for a (literal) test drive, so much so that the ExpressCards are selling out in stores.

The bottom line? PC Magazine and Information Week both seem to agree–the new service is undoubtedly fast. PC Magazine’s Sascha Segan: “With a strong signal, I saw download speeds averaging 3.6Mbps, with my fastest test at a blazing 7.1Mbps. That’s faster than my home cable connection!” But “strong signal” are the operative words; the new network still has a lot of gaps to fill. J. Nicholas Hoover of Information Week confesses to having run across a few “dead zones” in areas that were stated as covered, and signal fluctuations were common, as Segan elaborates: “At a shopping mall…I had a significantly stronger signal on the south side of the mall than on the north side.“  But, he continues, “[T]hat’s to be expected from a new wireless network in its first week…Networks start out patchy and then fill in.”

So Sprint’s WiMAX network is far from perfect. But for now, Baltimore residents should be glad to have 35 mph streaming video. Next up is Chicago and D.C.; the former is already getting hyped up with an exhibit in the Museum of Science of Industry featuring a three-story WiMAX-enabled Smart Home. And if you aren’t in Baltimore but are in the seven announced near-future sites (Chicago, D.C., Dallas-Fort Worth, Boston, Providence, Philadelphia), you may still be able to take advantage of fixed WiMAX speeds!

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.

The Sprint-Clearwire deal gave Clearwire undeniable credibility in WiMAX development, and the company is moving forward with the technology in a big way. Beta tests are underway in Portland, with “more than 70 percent of [the] WiMAX sites for Portland…in construction or on air.” Completion is slated for the end of year, with commercial deployments in that city and 3 others in 2009.

But now they have more than just the hardware; as of July 2nd, Clearwire has leased 3 one-year licenses on the 39 GHz spectrum from IDT Spectrum, 2 of which are in the Oregon-Washington area. You may not have heard much about IDT Spectrum recently, but expect to hear the name much in the near future; they own spectrums nationwide, mostly in the 28 and 38/39 GHz range. As we come upon the dawning age of wireless, the value of spectrum cannot be understated: you need spectrum to do anything wireless–especially for WiMAX, which is contentionless. (That means it can only operate on licensed spectrum because it is built to assume the air is clear. If it isn’t, the equipment just doesn’t work! ). Naturally, some companies are trying to develop equipment to change that, but for now, that is the nature of most WiMAX equipment. Those who bought spectrum when a majority of it was auctioned off by the FCC in the 80s are finally seeing their investment bear fruit, whether they intend to lease or sell –  remember the 700MHz auction earlier this year, which grossed a total of $19 billion?

So Clearwire has hardware, spectrum, and is well underway in deployment; what’s to follow ? If all goes well, 2009 will see Las Vegas, Grand Rapids, Atlanta, and Portland commercial launches as the first four commercial markets for Clearwire’s WiMAX service, primed to follow at the heels of the Xohm launches in Baltimore, Chicago, and Washington D.C. in the fall of this year. The start of the WiMAX nationwide buildout is only months away.

The Canadian equipment manufacturer Nortel is passing on its WiMax operations to Alvarion in order to focus on LTE development, as reported on telecoms.com. Nortel claims the deal allows for both WiMax and LTE, which is projected to get to market faster than anticipated, to be developed on a timely schedule.

But there are other dynamics at play. The most immediate stimulus for the switch may be due to the Clearwire-Sprint deal still fresh in everyone’s minds; such a coalition in support of WiMax technologies has got AT&T and Verizon scrambling to polish the rival technology they’re backing, LTE. Once shipped, LTE hardware will be able to deliver floods of streaming media to mobile users, in as-of-yet unheard of quantities. Is it any surprise that Nortel is eying this development anxiously? In Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski’s own words, it’ll put “lots of pressure on the bandwidth of the networks” (TheStar.com). Thus they have prioritized, allowing Alvarion to handle WiMax while they lavish the LTE front with the attention it needs.

Smart move ? It seems so. Nortel’s stock consequently jumped 13% following the announcement. But don’t interpret that as a clear indication of market confidence in LTE–the battle lines are still being drawn on the 4G frontier.

While the business world has been buzzing about the Microsoft-Yahoo talks, the big news for WiMAX fans is the Sprint and Clearwire deal. More details on the financial and commercial agreements are provided in this article.

Sprint and Intel both already had much invested in the success of WiMAX technology but the reasoning behind the cable companies and Google’s involvement is being questioned by some.

So why are these companies investing in WiMAX technology?

Comcast and Time Warner have been feeling the pressure from Verizon and AT&T who have been forcing their way into the television industry by providing video through your phone line. Verizon is attempting to lay fiber all the way to the home, or close to it. AT&T is laying fiber to the ‘node’ and relying on current wires to carry video signals to consumers’ homes. By helping the growth of WiMAX, Comcast and Time Warner would be funding an alternative wireless offering. Having a hand in mobile broadband technology could also help the cable companies compete in the ongoing battle for our living rooms. The triple play (phone, internet, and television) offering is no longer enough. CE, PC, console game, networking equipment, phone, and cable companies are trying to take over home media not only because of the huge potential to sell a complete ecosystem of products, services, and content but also for fear of being shut out.

Google is rumored to have been reluctant to enter the deal particularly because the WiMAX offered by Clearwire is currently just fixed wireless broadband. The company had to promise a future in building a mobile wireless solution for Time Warner, Comcast, and Google to put up the money. Obviously bringing broadband internet to mobile devices would mean more time spent on the internet and possibly more time spent on Google, Gmail, or YouTube. But mobile broadband also means more mobile devices which would, hopefully for Google, operate on the Android operating system that was launched by Google back in November 2007.

It will be interesting to see where this deal takes us.

Though there were echoes suggesting that Xohm would soft launch in Baltimore, Chicago and Washington, DC early this winter, these plans clearly did not materialize, leaving many wondering when this first big step for Xohm would come to fruition in the United States. As stated on a post on DailyTech, Sprint’s Vice President for Technology Development, Ali Tabassi, says that the time could be this spring.

This piece of information comes as a response to this past Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where products were enthusiastically displayed with some praises for the WiMAX and murmurs against LTE and competing technologies. Potential users in the United States, however, have yet to see WiMAX developments, making timing ever more crucial for Xohm. Tabassi already acknowledges that delays with Sprint mean that it will mostly likely not reach the hoped-for 100 million subscriber mark this year.

At the same time, though, there is plenty of behind the scenes development that could very well push Xohm ahead. Talks between Sprint and Clearwire are still reported to be near a close, with word of an additional $2 million investment from Intel and probably others. As the deal officially comes to a close the path ahead for Xohm should become clearer to investors and those interested in the progress of WiMAX.

Unstrung has provided a hopeful article on Clearwire and Sprint’s possible reunion on the WiMAX front–apparently with help from Google and others. Analyst Eric Kainer provides a synopsis on some of the possibilities:

- When could the deal be announced? The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is one possibility. It takes place next week.
- Clearwire is “close to the finish line” in the deal with Sprint
- Google’s interest in Xohm may be because they feel they can reach more people sooner than via 700 MHz broadband.
- With Sprint’s financial troubles in the news and Clearwire in need of more funding, this may be the optimal time for a reunion

As rumblings in the news reveal, Sprint just announced that WiMAX is coming soon– as early as April of this year, according to some sources. This news is a good boost to overall WiMAX morale, given that naysayers have spoken negatively of the rollout since the Clearwire and Sprint fallout late last year.

Just as interesting as the rollout are some of the partnerships that are making it possible. We can see that these partnerships span the globe and are taking into account all facets of Xohm as a true contender in the wireless market. Mobile Tech News reports on just some of these. I have compiled them into a chart for the sake of reader-friendliness: