New WiMAX deal Options

[impala454]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080...ax-network.html

While the dream vanished beneath the cold reality of Google's merely strategic bidding, the basic idea may still come true; Sprint Nextel and Clearwire are promising that their new WiMAX network will support both open access and wholesale access and that it will reach 140 million people by the end of 2010.

A lengthy document filed this week with the FCC asks for permission to merge the 2.5GHz spectrum assets of Sprint and Clearwire into "New Clearwire," the company backed by Sprint, Clearwire, Intel, Time Warner, Google, and Bright House. In the filing, Clearwire makes the case that it will provide true "third pipe" Internet access to home and mobile users at speeds of 6Mbps (and 3Mbps uplink).

... Sprint and Clearwire claim that "each of these systems has consistently demonstrated the ability to deliver up to 6Mbps downlink and up to 3Mbps uplink while the end user is moving at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour."

One interesting tidbit that emerged from the filing was the fact that Sprint, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks "have already committed to enter into non-exclusive wholesale agreements with New Clearwire." Under the arrangement, the companies will become mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) that can resell Clearwire services under the own brands, giving the cable companies in particular a way to offer the ridiculously-named "quadruple play" of voice, video, data, and wireless. The pitch is simple: pay one bill and have seamless access to a high-speed network while at home and a 6Mbps national wireless data network the moment you walk out the door.

Pretty exciting stuff IMHO.