Sprint-Clearwire Rides Again, LTE Makes Inroads

Then an inflection point hit with 802.16e — the mobile version of WiMAX. Sprint's anointing of .16e as its 4G technology of choice was the first sign that pervasive, open, broadband connectivity might not be crazy talk.

Following that blockbuster announcement, tantalizing details began to emerge. Xohm, Sprint’s WiMAX effort, would turn to the consumer electronics marketplace to create 4G end-user devices, unlocking them from the carrier so individuals could purchase these endpoints retail and use them on any carrier network based on the corresponding technology. This foundation of open access, a trendy and world-changing new development in the communications service provider world, would underpin the business ideology. It would be the true, open field, Internet — not the walled garden. It would be indoor/outdoor. And it would be irresistible.

But things got mucked up over the course of last winter and early spring, when Sprint ran into muddy financial ground. That ended with investors calling for the carrier to pay more attention to its core business instead of plotting to spend millions on a new network (see the xchange Web site for more). As a result, Sprint’s Xohm began to look like less of an inevitability and more of a maybe, particularly considering that a planned roaming relationship with fellow 2.5GHz spectrum holder Clearwire fizzled last November under the weight of logistics.

"The more we worked on the roaming partnership, [the more] it became apparent that there would be problems from a system architecture standpoint,” explained Wolff. “And that would make it difficult to deliver consistent product and services nationwide."

This was bad news not just for Sprint, but for WiMAX in the United States overall, given Sprint has been the central player driving the technology and holding the necessary spectrum rights to move it forward. With Sprint struggling, it had appeared that hopes of creating a nationwide WiMAX network in the United States now were virtually impossible. At least that was the case until news came of the May agreement between Sprint and Clearwire to create a joint venture under the Clearwire brand.

Of course, the $14.5 billion Clearwire joint venture goes far beyond the original Sprint-Clearwire relationship around WiMAX. It combines the WiMAX spectrum and technological and operational expertise of Sprint and Clearwire. But it also brings to the table the cablecos, Internet giant Google, and Intel, which is known for its prowess in investing in early-stage technologies to help seed new markets for its technology. Collectively, these other partners will take a $3.2 billion collective investment in the new Clearwire.

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