SAN FRANCISCO-WiMAX got a boost last week as Intel Corp. and broadband wireless carrier Clearwire announced they will join forces to develop and deploy broadband networks based on the technology.
Clearwire subsidiary NextNet Wireless will provide broadband equipment for the project, and future Intel silicon products that will support the upcoming 802.16 WiMAX standard will be included in the networks. Intel Capital will make a significant, but unspecified, investment in Clearwire to accelerate the adoption of high-speed wireless networks.
Clearwire, led by wireless pioneer Craig McCaw, launched its first broadband wireless network in August in Jacksonville, Fla., using NextNet technology similar to WiMAX. St. Cloud, Minn., and Abilene, Texas, are expected to go live this month.
McCaw expects to have live services in 20 U.S. markets next year, and is targeting previously under-served markets such as Alaska and Mexico. Live markets will be upgraded to WiMAX equipment as it becomes available from NextNet.
The Wi-MAX services will run on Intel-based subscriber units.
Largely seen as a potential successor to Wi-Fi, WiMAX offers greater range and speed than Wi-Fi, whose coverage is limited to hot spots of a few hundred feet. Intel expects the new technology to be launched in 2006, but others say that time frame is optimistic.
“We view WiMAX as a still-emerging wireless standard that feels more like 4G than the current rollout of 3G wireless data services,” said a research note from Raymond James & Associates Inc. “We expect WiMAX to have a role in the future of wireless broadband services, but see a late ’07, at best, timeframe for broad nationwide network deployments.”
McCaw founded the first U.S. cellular network-McCaw Cellular Communications Inc., which he sold to AT&T Corp. in 1994 for $11.5 billion-and is credited with making Nextel Communications Inc. an industry leader. Like others, though, he’s had mixed success in broadband, and said he understands critics’ skepticism.
“We are, of course, tempered by the fact that everybody else who has tried this has failed,” he said.
McCaw’s Nextlink, a broadband wireless access operator, was among a slew of broadband wireless ventures that failed in the late 1990s, due largely to the lack of a standardized technology. McCaw said he believes the partnership will help establish a common technology that will accommodate other players.
“We think Intel has a very enlightened view,” McCaw said. “Even though we own the technology and the equipment, our view is that a rising tide floats all boats.”
