Sprint-Clearwire Rides Again, LTE Makes Inroads

"The Internet has changed our lives, and all of us behave so differently than we did a few years ago," said Fred Wright, senior vice president for cellular networks and WiMAX at Motorola Inc., which is one of the infrastructure vendors for the new Clearwire. "I now sit at home with the laptop, watching TV but browsing the Internet, checking Outlook, eBay, Google, watching YouTube, staying connected. Our whole behavior has changed, and mobile Internet will change us again as entertainment becomes disconnected from the home and everything becomes a personal device."

Expanding on that theme, West painted the scenario of being on vacation, say, walking around a city. For individuals who are, as he is, interested in history and archeology, 4G could enable them to access the story behind the buildings and relics via the Internet, perhaps via a widget on a mobile device with presence. It is, in a word, enriching.

Clearwire also aims to spark a world of new devices. "Consumers historically are frustrated by being told by the operators what they can and cannot do and with what device," said Wolff. "Obviously, you have a tremendous choice, but there are clear limits on what you can and cannot do on a 2G, 3G network. Our model anticipates having a plethora of devices, purchased through electronics dealers or online, which have intrinsic utility aside from connecting to our network." That includes stuff like DVD players, televisions, home appliances, navigation devices, and so on.

But this kind of thing has been discussed, nay, dreamt of, for some time. What may be the most important new aspect of 4G now on the horizon is how it dramatically could change the operator landscape.

"You get to an interesting paradigm with 4G as the enabler," said Danny Locklear, senior manager of wireless product marketing at Nortel Networks Ltd., which supplies both WiMAX and LTE gear. "You and I want to experience the same level of performance and freedom we have with the PC — but we want to be mobile with that data experience. That idea puts existing cellcos that have the channel to those subscribers in an interesting position. Then you have the Googles of the world providing the content and aggregation, ads, and wanting to get to that valued subscriber base. There is a tension as to who will ultimately own the business model. Subscriptions are already at 80 or 100 percent-plus saturation. So how do carriers garner more revenue related to non-commodity stuff in a model like this?"

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