Sprint and Clearwire finalize merger, spread of WiMax to follow soon
After receiving approval from the FCC and shareholders, the Sprint and Clearwire merger has been finalized. Sprint has gone and contributed all its Xohm WiMax assets to Clearwire, and in addition, Clearwire has received $3.2 billion worth of investments from companies such as Comcast and Google. The merger will allow Sprint to shift its focus on its own network, namely Nextel and the slowly dying iDen, while Clearwire will handle most of the WiMax business and keep its name and headquarters in Kirkland, Washington. On December 1, 2008, Clearwire will hold a conference discussing its future and giving analysts a look into the company’s plans. Should things go well, we could be seeing WiMax networks spreading rapidly in 2009.
Tags: ClearWire, FCC, Sprint, Sprint Clearwire merger, WiMax, XOHM
How about some of those handsets the russia will be getting here in the states. Is that to much to ask? Or better yet how about a wimax blackberry.
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@ veks,
I wished all manufacturers would just start adding the combination WiFi/WiMax modules in devices in lieu of a plain WiFi module. WiMax will be a nice alternative to basic DSL, and will get more penetration than may be expected. With it coming to homes via WiMax modems with wireless broadcast via WiFi, WiMax could be a nice setup for home.
Nokia has the 2.5MHz WiMax Sprint N810 web tablet. Let’s hope they won’t keep it only on Sprint devices, and 2.5MHz WiMax finds its way into high end Symbian devices. It’d be a way to avoid having to choose between at&t or T-MobileUSA’s 3G networks in America. Anyone can access the WiMax network dependent of the voice network, so at&t and T-MobileUSA subscribers needing a mobile broadband connection could use it or their own 3G.
WiMax has far greater penetration than is reported. Though Baltimore is listed as the only commercial launch, travelling will show that those customers can connect in other markets, too, like Philly and Chicago. If you order Xohm service through a Baltimore account, it can access the already launched towers in many other areas where it isn’t commercially available. So the hardware is already there in more places than are publicized, just not accessible to local customers. Baltimore’s custo’s can access it wherever its built.
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How about some of those pretty handsets the russia will be getting here in the states. Is that to much to ask? Or better yet, how about a wimax blackberry.
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XOHM SUCKS BALLS I WAS IN PERFECT COVERAGE AND NEVER GOT OVER 1.1MB DOWNLOAD SPEEDS.
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Boy I’m excited about this…
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Jonathon, you’re a moron. Who does studies of one person? Maybe you had a defective handset, or, maybe it was BETA testing, sh1t for brains.
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Actually, I quite agree with Jonathon’s pithy characterization of the Xohm service. I’ve had it for 5 months now and it is very nearly as frustrating as dial up. I live downtown and coverage is very good but during peek usage the isp is very slow. It is not just download speeds: latency (at any time of day) is something like 120 to 200 ms so it takes forever to load complicated but popular pages like the New York Times. Luckily for me I am moving to another city soon and am looking forward to putting up with the frustrations associated with dealing with a cable isp (i.e. comcast). My best speedtest.net measured download speed was 2.3mb but the typical speed is 1.2 to 1.5 mb.
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