Sprint will outsource the management for its US CDMA network to Ericsson and will keep WiMAX management internal, the company’s press release recently announced.  In a seven-year agreement titled Network Advantage, Sprint hopes to increase the effectiveness of its wireless and wireline network.

“No other US-based carrier has followed through on the business-enhancing vision inherent in Network Advantage,” said Steve Elfman, President of Network Operations and Wholesale at Sprint.  “Our best ever network performance will become even better by leveraging Ericsson’s world-class leadership in network services, their proprietary tools, and the knowledge of more than 30,000 dedicated and highly-specialized service professionals to power Sprint’s Now Network.”

As part of the agreement, 6,000 Sprint employees will begin performing their network functions as Ericsson employees sometime in the 3rd quarter of this year.  Yet Sprint will still control the customer experience–customers will continue to work directly with Sprint employees as their primary contact.  Ericsson will assume full responsibility for the day-to-day services and maintenance for the Sprint-owned CDMA, iDEN and wireless networks; however, Sprint will retain technology and vendor selections.  In addition, Sprint will retain full ownership and control of its network assets, network strategy, and investment decisions.

The Network Advantage plan is expected to increase Sprint’s operational efficiency and expand Ericsson’s network service business in North America.  Sprint’s Xohm WiMAX services are mostly run by Clearwire, one of the leading WiMAX deployment companies in the US.  Ericsson currently is a partner with Clearwire in providing the Clearwire IMS core and related integration services and voice application solutions.

Liberty University is set to bring WiMAX to its hometown, Lynchburg, VA.  By partnering with the Virginia School of the Arts, also a native of Lynchburg, Liberty University has created the Lynchburg Educational Broadband Joint Venture.  This organization will enable major communications companies to bid on leasing license channels in order to provide WiMAX to users.

Currently, Liberty University and the Virginia School of the Arts (VSA) own broadband channel licenses separately.  For the past two year, Liberty has appealed to the FCC for permission to operate on a frequency that would make their partnership with the VSA possible.  Now, with the go-ahead from FCC officials, Liberty has embarked upon a venture that will greatly impact the Central Virginia region and its educational institutions.

Appomattox, VA was the first town in the state to operate on WiMAX today since it received DigitalBridge Communications’ BridgeMAXX service in January 2008.  Clearwire offers its WiMAX services in Richmond, and recently bought 2.5 GHz licenses for Lynchburg, VA and Parkersburg, W. VA.  Sprint has been offering XOHM WiMAX services in northern Virginia since October 2008.

The WiMAX Network construction of Clearwire Corporation may bring opportunities to Chinese telecoms equipment providers Huawei Technologies and ZTE for their expansion in the US, according to Will Kong, research analyst at iSuppli . Both ZTE and Huawei have small market shares compared to their counterparts, but they are trying to stake a sizeable claim in the U.S. WiMax market. In detail, Huawei Technologies is hopeful to build the basic WiMAX architecture for Clearwire, and ZTE is expected to offer WiMax equipment and mobile phones to the US wireless broadband operator, according to Will Kong, an analyst with the market adviser iSuppli Corporation. Neither company would comment directly on any contract talks.

Huawei Technologies have won 41 WiMax orders all over the world by the end of 2009′s first quarter, and plans not to give up any WiMAX opportunity in North America. On the other hand, ZTE is providing Xohm WiMAX cellphones for the leading US telecoms operator Sprint Nextel Corporation, which is the parent company of Clearwire. In the US, the two Chinese companies will keep an advantage over product prices. Their was already rumors of a major Cleawire deal with Huawei in April, 09. As of late May, Clearwire had made no major vendor announcements other than the core IP that Cisco Systems will provide, although many in the industry expect the company to announce more suppliers.

“For our microwave backhaul networks, we have used off-the-shelf microwave products from suppliers like DragonWave and Motorola,” says Clearwire spokeswoman Susan Johnston. “Our labs are constantly testing new equipment from many vendors in the spirit of continuous improvement, but we are not prepared to name additional new infrastructure vendors at this time.”

“Certainly, we would like to expand our customer base in the U.S.,” says Raymond Kim, general manager of ZTE USA. The company has been in the United States since the early part of 2000. Its first U.S. handset customer was MetroPCS.

Huawei, the bigger of the two companies based on revenue worldwide, entered the North American market in 2001 and the company has been committed to the U.S. market and step by step has established a reputation. While the company builds its U.S. customer base, it is seeing great success worldwide and has become the fifth- largest telecom company after Cisco, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). Huawei said in June, 09 it expected a huge sales boost  from Wimax equipment sales overseas over the next 19 months.

More about Will Kong, research analyst at iSuppli

At iSuppli, Will is responsible for the study and research on China’s wireless communication market and analyzes domesticC hinese  OEMs. He also provides innovative ideas and marketing support for iSuppli service and consulting offerings in this area. Formerly, Will worked as business development of multi-market semiconductor (MMS) products for NXP. He was responsible for driving cellular-related IC sales and design-win targets in Chinese mobile handset market. He also served as a Market Analyst in NXP to track the mobile handset and communications markets in China, as well as to report on competitive strategy. Prior to joining NXP, Will was a RF IC designer in Sino-Chip OEIC. Will holds a Bachelor of Science in Communications Engineering and a Master of Science in Circuit Systems from Southeast University, China.

During the CTIA 2009 in Las Vegas, Samsung Mobile announced the upcoming availability of the Samsung Mondi™, a mobile WiMAX device designed for use with the Clear mobile WiMAX service from Clearwire.

Originally presented at the Mobile World Congress ’09, The Samsung Mondi SWD-M100 includes the following key features : MS Office, WiFi, BT 2.1, GPS, 4 GB of internal memory, support for push email, instant messaging support, 3.0 MP camera and camcorder, Opera 9.5 browser, HDMI out, 4.3-inch touch screen, and a wide range of supported video and audio player formats. It also supports various services including Fring, Gypsii, and MS Live Messenger. The Mondi is completely customizable with widgets that can be dragged and dropped anywhere on the display screen.

The Mondi from Samsung looks very similar to the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition Mobile Internet Device, which was scheduled to come to Sprint’s XOHM WiMAX network in the US, but was reportedly discontinued at the beginning of 2009.

“The mobile broadband experience that the Mondi offers to Clear customers places the power of the open Internet in the palm of the hand,” said Atish Gude, Chief Marketing Officer for Clearwire. “As our network grows across the US, we will continue to work with innovative device manufacturers to expand the mobile WiMAX device ecosystem and leverage the value that a 4G wireless Internet connection delivers.” Clearwire currently provides mobile WiMAX service in Portland, Ore. and Baltimore, MD.. The company expects to launch Clear service this year in different cities across the us including Atlanta, Las Vegas, Chicago, Charlotte, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Honolulu, Philadelphia, and Seattle.

UQ Communications in Japan and Scartel LLC., in Russia are examples of other operators preparing for commercial deployment of national-wide wimax services using Samsung’s mobile WiMAX.

A year after Sprint Nextel merged its WiMAX business with ClearWire, Computer Word reported Sprint Nextel will be the first to kick off a tri-mode handset- the first stand alone WiMAX Cell Phone. According to Scott Lane, director of marketing and sales for Sprint’s 4G unit, The phone would function in three wireless modes. Including WiMax and CDMA, the third mode will most likely be Wi-Fi, although that has not yet been confirmed.  The WiMax handset also “could be based on Android “partly because Sprint has a “close relationship with Google,” the main proponent of Android, Lane noted. Still, he said he would not commit to the operating system being based on Android because there are other operating systems that have the processing power to work with high-speed WiMax.Sprint, the nation’s third largest wireless network spun off its WiMAX initiative named Xohm but has since been employing a 20 person team that focused on WiMAX product development and marketing strategy. Sprint is also preparing to sell WiMax-related products in future Clear markets, which Lane said should reach 40 million to 50 million customers by the end of 2009.

Now that Sprint’s long-awaited Xohm service has launched in Baltimore to mostly positive reviews, researchers, bloggers, and journalists are beginning to place their bets on the upcoming battle between WiMAX and long term evolution (LTE), its toughest challenger. Researchers at In-Stat have struck the first blow for WiMAX, concluding in a new report that WiMAX is likely to “outpace” LTE over the next few years, though both technologies are still years away from full implementation. In-Stat argues that because LTE will not be ready for at least another year or two, the timing of network roll-outs favors WiMAX technology. But CNET’s Marguerite Reardon is skeptical, as she draws a comparison between Sprint’s Xohm roll-out and the recent failed efforts by EarthLink to develop municipal Wi-Fi networks. She argues that Sprint’s business model may be doomed to fail because it pits WiMAX against existing 3G data services and cheaper, more consistent broadband options such as Verizon DSL. In the absence of financial incentives and a greater variety of WiMAX-ready devices, Reardon predicts that Xohm will face a tough battle for consumers – not necessarily against LTE, but against HSPA products offered by competitors.

However, while Sprint’s WiMAX network in Baltimore may not be as consistent as existing broadband services — for now, at least — it still offers stronger, faster, and more consistent connections than EarthLink’s Wi-Fi project, which depended on countless access points, each with a limited reach. WiMAX offers the freedom of municipal Wi-Fi, but with far less hassle — so the real goal for Sprint is to convince consumers that its service will make their lives easier, liberate them from coffee shops, and save them the trouble of dealing with routers and modems. Their inability to pull this off is by no means a foregone conclusion. Municipal Wi-Fi, after all, is still an attractive concept in theory, if not in practice. And while it’s true that WiMAX-ready mobile devices and laptops are currently few in number, we can doubtlessly expect to see more of these devices entering the market if the launch of Xohm proves to be successful in the long run.

Reardon doesn’t mention LTE directly, but she does inject a bit of unpleasant reality into the WiMAX vs. LTE debate by pointing out the gloomy state of the economy, and in doing so, she raises an important question: what if delays in WiMAX roll-outs give LTE technology time to catch up? Phil Skeffington, an associate with UK-based consultancy Mott MacDonald Schema, doesn’t see a problem. In fact, if Skeffington is right, the battle between WiMAX and LTE may even result in a draw. Skeffington believes that WiMAX and LTE are “complementary technologies,” with LTE poised to become the preferred technology for mobile handsets, and WiMAX set to corner the market of “nomadic” laptop users because of its superior bandwidth capabilities. Because demand from laptop users is higher right now, WiMAX is still likely to hold on to its early lead. Its ability to emerge from the fight unscathed depends on Sprint’s ability to attract consumers, to create demand for devices, and to convince manufacturers and investors to meet that demand. Fortunately for backers of WiMAX, there is plenty of cause for optimism.

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!

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.

WiMax news has been dominated by a London research firm’s recent announcement that mobile WiMax might be dead on arrival.

“Recent events have been unfavourable toward Mobile WiMAX,” says Frost & Sullivan’s Programme Manager Luke Thomas, referring to Sprint’s delayed deployment of its commercial WiMax network. The firm then focuses on the two aspects of mobile WiMax:

“In terms of indoor wireless broadband, Wi-Fi fits well in this space and with the emergence of 802.11n, which includes MIMO, throughputs would be far better than what MobileWiMAX can deliver…With respect to outdoor mobile broadband environments, users would expect Mobile WiMAX to seamlessly hand off to cellular networks in the absence of WiMAX reception. In reality this is not possible as mobile WiMAX is not backward compatible with existing cellular technologies.” (Centre Daily)

By their diagnosis, the future of mobile WiMax seems bleak indeed. However, the image they portray may be oversimplified to WiMax’s disfavor. For instance, most next-generation broadband technologies will radically change modes of operation, making them incompatible with prior hardware. And before you ask, yes, in this club is the much-championed LTE. So in any discussion of new mobile technology, upgrading existing equipment is almost a given. It’s certainly much more of an industry-wide hurdle than, as Frost & Sullivan make it seem, an obstacle of WiMax exclusively. And already the industry is moving towards a solution, with talks of multimode.

As for the talk of the 802.11n standard of WiFi: last I heard, parts of the standard were still under patent in Australia, and requests for Letters of Assurance were ignored. That’s not a good portent for the standard’s likelihood of approval, as fast as it may be. I’d much rather look to WiMax, which is set to launch in its first large U.S. metropolitan area, Baltimore, in September.

In spite of the failed partnership with Clearwire and their current financial strain, Sprint expects to launch Xohm as planned. We could be experiencing a wireless broadband network from Sprint in several major cities, such as Chicago and Washington DC, as early as spring of this year.

According to the LA Times, Sprint’s Chief Executive Dan Hesse is convinced that WiMAX is the way to go even though Sprint’s bigger competitors Verizon and AT&T have disregarded WIMAX in favor of another 4G network known as LTE (Long Term Evolution). LTE is a project in the 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) and is an easier progression from our current wireless networks. While some are concerned that the industry’s two largest carriers are not backing WiMAX, Google, Comcast, and Time Warner are rumored to be jumping on the WiMAX bandwagon. Not to mention, WiMAX was the big buzz word at the CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas. On Tuesday, Nokia presented its most updated version of N180 Internet Tablet, a WiMAX device projected to run on Sprint’s Xohm network. Motorola displayed a WiMAX enabled car with music, video, and data mapping streaming wirelessly from temporary WiMAX towers placed in the city. All of the hype and optimism surrounding WiMAX is great news for Sprint but may be bad news for Sirius and XM satellite radio.

Sirius and XM have just received the long awaited approval from the Department of Justice for the Sirius XM merger that was first announced back in February of 2007. The merger would double their customer base making it much easier to cover fixed costs. Sirius and XM are also hoping that the merger will help ease the highly competitive environment so acquisition and marketing spending can be lowered. However, with the development of WiMAX, Sirius and XM will face competition from Internet radio which could be streamed wirelessly into cars or mobile phones. Sirius and XM have more than just the pending approval from the FCC to worry about.