Can the Clearwire coalition save WiMAX?

Hopes for nationwide WiMAX network hinge on alliance of telecom, cable and tech companies

By Brad Reed, Network World
May 08, 2008 11:36 AM ET

For the past year, WiMAX has been a technology under siege.

It has faced criticism as an unreliable and untested technology, and not only from promoters of the rival High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technologies.

Read a primer on WiMAX, 3G and 4G.

Earlier this year, Garth Freeman, the CEO of Australian WiMAX operator Buzz Broadband, described his experience with the technology as a “disaster” and cited problems such as latency, jitter and poor indoor service. While WiMAX equipment vendor Airspan claimed that Buzz Broadband’s poor WiMAX experience was due more to the company cutting corners in its deployment than to the technology itself, Freeman’s anti-WiMAX tirade generated unwelcome negative publicity at a time when the technology experienced delays in some of its key deployments.

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Additionally, the recent corporate upheaval at Sprint Nextel, which has been WiMAX’s chief booster among U.S. carriers, has also added to the uncertainty surrounding WiMAX in the United States. In particular, the company’s commitment to the technology was questioned after former CEO Gary Forsee, who was instrumental in the company’s decision to invest in WiMAX, stepped down in October. Months later, interim Sprint CEO Paul Saleh suggested that the company could spin off its WiMAX division to concentrate more fully on customer service and on improving its basic wireless offerings. And at around the same time, Sprint announced it had terminated its original letter of intent to build out a nationwide WiMAX network with Clearwire.

The Sprint-Clearwire soap opera
Now that Sprint and Clearwire have finally sealed the deal on their partnership to build out a nationwide WiMAX network, here's a look back at the events that led up to forming the $14.5 billion WiMAX venture.

August 2006: Sprint Nextel announces that it will use WiMAX as its mobile broadband 4G standard.

July 2007: Sprint and Clearwire sign a letter of intent to build out a nationwide WiMAX network, with Sprint tackling most of the major urban areas and Clearwire building out in the rural areas where Sprint has weaker coverage.

October 2007: Sprint CEO Gary Forsee, who was instrumental in Sprint's decision to invest in WiMAX technology, resigns under investor pressure.

December 2007: Sprint and Clearwire terminate their original letter of intent to build out a nationwide WiMAX network, as the companies say they "could not resolve complexities" involved in the original plan.

March 2008: Rumors begin circulating that Sprint and Clearwire are trying to revive their joint WiMAX venture by getting several major cable companies to invest more than $1.5 billion to help build out the network.

May 2008: After months of speculation, Sprint and Clearwire announce that they are combining their WiMAX businesses to create a $14.5 billion mobile broadband company. As expected, the company will be focused primarily on deploying a nationwide WiMAX network that will provide 4G coverage in rural and urban markets.

Click to see: Timeline of the Sprint Clearwire relationship

These persistent questions about WiMAX led Sprint’s Xohm CTO Barry West to hit back at WiMAX skeptics at a Wireless Communications Association conference last month. Noting that it would be at least two years before LTE services and devices hit the wireless market, West accused LTE-adopting companies of “not having anything to offer” and of “trashing the system that’s out there working.”