Sprint is planning to launch its WiMax networks in Chicago and Baltimore-Washington, D.C., within the week, according to Telephony magazine.
Sprint officials told Telephony that the soft launch will extend only to Sprint employees and is intended to prepare the networks for a broader trial early next year. At first, they will cover the downtown cores of Chicago, Baltimore and Washington but expand rapidly into the suburbs.
The industry has been waiting for Sprint Nextel to launch its network. Last year it committed to spending billions of dollars and rolling out a nationwide WiMax network. Earlier this year, it signed a letter of intent with Kirkland-based Clearwire to share the work and the costs, but that agreement fizzled. Since then, industry analysts have questioned Sprint's commitment, and the initiative seemed to be up in the air.
Sprint's launch of its WiMax service, called Xohm, will be the first high-profile release of true mobile WiMax technology.
Clearwire, founded by Craig McCaw, is often portrayed as the leader or the largest WiMax company because it already serves about 40 markets and has thousands of customers. However, it is not using the true mobile WiMax standard.
Clearwire is using proprietary equipment, and its equipment is not truly mobile. An Internet connection can't be handed off from one tower to the next while the user is in a car or on a train.
Clearwire and a partner, Intel, has been testing mobile WiMax in Portland, and is expected to upgrade its technology in existing markets over time.
A new study suggests that a "staggering" number of entrepreneurs in the U.S. identify themselves as dyslexic, according to a story in the International Herald Tribune.
The report said that of the entrepreneurs interviewed, 35 percent said they were dyslexic. The study also concluded that dyslexics were more likely to delegate authority and to excel in oral communication and problem solving. They were also twice as likely to own two or more businesses.
One good example in our own back yard is Craig McCaw, who has a long list of companies he started: Clearwire, Nextel Communications, XO Communications, Teledesic and McCaw Cellular Communications,
Members of his executive teams frequently describe him as being creative, not too wrapped up in the details, and capable of delegating authority.
The article pointed out that the connection between entrepreneurs and dyslexia has been made before. Fortune had a cover story five years ago mentioning McCaw, but also Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways; Charles Schwab, founder of the discount brokerage that bears his name; John Chambers, chief executive of Cisco; and Paul Orfalea, founder of the Kinko's copy chain.
Why is this?
Julie Logan, a professor of entrepreneurship at the Cass Business School in London, who conducted the study, said:
"We found that dyslexics who succeed had overcome an awful lot in their lives by developing compensatory skills. If you tell your friends and acquaintances that you plan to start a business, you'll hear over and over, 'It won't work. It can't be done.' But dyslexics are extraordinarily creative about maneuvering their way around problems."
The study was based on a survey of 139 business owners in a wide range of fields across the U.S.
Logan called the results staggering, especially when juxtaposed with the information that about 10 percent of Americans are believed to have dyslexia.
On Monday, companies had to tell the FCC whether they were interested in participating in the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction and, by Tuesday, everyone was speculating who those companies were.
I linked to TechCrunch, which had a pretty thorough list of who it thought was participating.
Kirkland-based Clearwire, the wireless broadband provider looking to eventually roll out WiMax, was a foregone conclusion -- of course it would participate.
Well, today the company, founded by Craig McCaw, had a one-sentence SEC filing: "Clearwire Corporation announced today that it will not be bidding in the Federal Communications Commission's upcoming auction of wireless spectrum in the 700 MHz band."
It's understandable why Clearwire would not want to bid. First of all, the spectrum it owns in the U.S. is in the 2.5 GHz band. Second, it holds the second-largest chunk of that spectrum in the U.S., following Sprint Nextel. Third, although its pending partnership with Sprint Nextel dissolved recently, there is no reason that the two companies couldn't work together, or at least swap spectrum in the future.
I believe the only companies that officially said they were going to participate were Google, Frontline Wireless, and likely Verizon Wireless.
On Monday, companies had to tell the FCC whether they were interested in participating in the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction and, by Tuesday, everyone was speculating who those companies were.
I linked to TechCrunch, which had a pretty thorough list of who it thought was participating.
Kirkland-based Clearwire, the wireless broadband provider looking to eventually roll out WiMax, was a foregone conclusion -- of course it would participate.
Well, today the company, founded by Craig McCaw, had a one-sentence SEC filing: "Clearwire Corporation announced today that it will not be bidding in the Federal Communications Commission's upcoming auction of wireless spectrum in the 700 MHz band."
It's understandable why Clearwire would not want to bid. First of all, the spectrum it owns in the U.S. is in the 2.5 GHz band. Second, it holds the second-largest chunk of that spectrum in the U.S., following Sprint Nextel. Third, although its pending partnership with Sprint Nextel dissolved recently, there is no reason that the two companies couldn't work together, or at least swap spectrum in the future.
I believe the only companies that officially said they were going to participate were Google, Frontline Wireless, and likely Verizon Wireless.
Despite some doom and gloom about WiMax, Clearwire is acting as if it is business as usual.
The Kirkland-based company said today that it launched a wireless high-speed Internet access and phone service in Charlotte, N.C. Charlotte is Clearwire's 45th market.
Clearwire is still rolling out a pre-WiMax solution (which is why I thought it was funny that an analyst in a trade journal today called Clearwire the most successful WiMax company), which is available to consumers either through a home modem, or a PC laptop card.
In fact, as far as I can tell, there's no company selling true WiMax services yet.
The news of the new market didn't exactly send Clearwire's stock rocketing. In afternoon trading, it fell $1.42, or about 19 percent, to $14.15 a share.
Verizon Wireless is making headlines for the second time this week.
On Tuesday, I wrote about how it was going to open up its networks to unlocked cellphones and third-party developers.
Today, Verizon Wireless said it is testing out a fourth-generation technology known as LTE, or long-term evolution.
The Wall Street Journal noted that it was interesting Verizon was making this 4G choice because LTE evolves from GSM technology, the most-used standard worldwide. That differs from Verizon's CDMA technology, which is also used by Sprint Nextel in the U.S. but doesn't have a big global following.
The switch makes sense since Verizon Wireless is partly owned by Vodafone, which uses the GSM standard. As the WSJ noted, this will allow Verizon customers to roam more easily internationally. (Today, if its customers go to Europe, they have to get a global phone that has both CDMA and GSM chips.)
But I haven't seen a lot of discussion about what Verizon's decision to test LTE says about WiMax. I think it is a little bit of a black eye for this wireless broadband technology, which gained momentum in the past year. It can't get a break recently.
Sprint Nextel, which is rolling out WiMax, calls WiMax its 4G technology. A partnership with Clearwire to jointly develop a nationwide network dissolved with the departure of Sprint's CEO.
If Sprint Nextel and Clearwire build a nationwide network based on WiMax, and Verizon chooses LTE, it looks like we'll continue to see dual wireless standards in the U.S.
In addition, we are still waiting to hear what AT&T and T-Mobile USA will decide, and there's also the upcoming spectrum auction. It will provide a fresh chunk of airwaves that could throw a new player -- Google -- into the mix. Whoever wins that auction will also have a lot of choices to make.
To confuse the matters even more, Qualcomm is developing a third option based on the technology it acquired from Flarion.
I suppose this is the beauty of capitalism, where the market gets to decide. I'd argue it's worked out fairly well in the U.S. with competition pushing each other to roll out better and better technology. But it's also hard on the consumer, who may or may not have to get new equipment each time he or she changes carriers or travels internationally.
On Amazon.com today, Jeff Bezos writes a letter to customers, about reading books -- "I love slipping into a comfortable chair for a long read....The physical book is so elegant that the artifact itself disappears into the background. The paper, glue, ink, and stitching that make up the book vanish, and what remains is the author's world."
And what also remains is Kindle, the wireless portable reading device that Amazon has been secretly working on for more than three years.
With the launch of Amazon's Kindle comes the first-of-its-kind look at what could be a whole new category of wireless devices.
In the WiMax industry, which is attempting to roll out wireless broadband nationwide, there's a lot of talk about consumer devices, including cameras, MP3 players and other devices, always be connected. Sprint Nextel talks about this the most, with Kirkland-based Clearwire also saying that's a potential outcome of having always-on Internet access.
The problem with this is determining how the user should be billed. If Kindle reaches out over the wireless infrastructure for ane-book, who pays for that airtime? The user? In the form of a monthly bill that requires a two-year commitment?
At that point, adoption is almost completely ruled out.
This is why it will be interesting to see how successful Kindle is. It is adopting a new set of billing rules that Sprint Nextel talks about for its WiMax network.
In the press release, Amazon pays for the wireless connectivity for Kindle so there are no monthly wireless bills, data plans, or service commitments for customers.
The next problem is the device's cost: $399.
WiMax is also supposedly able to help with that over the long run. Its chipsets are to be more in line with Wi-Fi, rather than the costly cellular chips that the Kindle requires.
Of course, the WiMax networks still have to be built, and it has to get enough volume for this to happen.
On Amazon.com today, Jeff Bezos writes a letter to customers, about reading books -- "I love slipping into a comfortable chair for a long read....The physical book is so elegant that the artifact itself disappears into the background. The paper, glue, ink, and stitching that make up the book vanish, and what remains is the author's world."
And what also remains is Kindle, the wireless portable reading device that Amazon has been secretly working on for more than three years.
With the launch of Amazon's Kindle comes the first-of-its-kind look at what could be a whole new category of wireless devices.
In the WiMax industry, which is attempting to roll out wireless broadband nationwide, there's a lot of talk about consumer devices, including cameras, MP3 players and other devices, always be connected. Sprint Nextel talks about this the most, with Kirkland-based Clearwire also saying that's a potential outcome of having always-on Internet access.
The problem with this is determining how the user should be billed. If Kindle reaches out over the wireless infrastructure for ane-book, who pays for that airtime? The user? In the form of a monthly bill that requires a two-year commitment?
At that point, adoption is almost completely ruled out.
This is why it will be interesting to see how successful Kindle is. It is adopting a new set of billing rules that Sprint Nextel talks about for its WiMax network.
In the press release, Amazon pays for the wireless connectivity for Kindle so there are no monthly wireless bills, data plans, or service commitments for customers.
The next problem is the device's cost: $399.
WiMax is also supposedly able to help with that over the long run. Its chipsets are to be more in line with Wi-Fi, rather than the costly cellular chips that the Kindle requires.
Of course, the WiMax networks still have to be built, and it has to get enough volume for this to happen.
Clearwire's stock took a pounding, dropping 25 percent last Friday, after the company said it and Sprint Nextel were abandoning their plans for a partnership.
Since then, the stock has regained some ground, closing today at $15.92, up from $13.49 on Friday.
Perhaps that has something to do with a story in today's Wall Street Journal.
The story includes an interview with the company's founder and chairman, Craig McCaw. It details a lot of the background conversations Clearwire was having with Sprint that led to the letter of intent Clearwire and Sprint signed in July.
But the most telling remark in the whole story may have been McCaw's final comment.
There's so much rumor and speculation on what will happen -- whether print will spin off its WiMax unit; or Clearwire will be bought by Comcast or Google; or Sprint and Clearwire will merge.
The story doesn't answer any of those questions.
But McCaw seemed committed on one thing. True, he needs more money; true he's got a lot left to build, the least of which is confidence in Wall Street that WiMax has a future. But he's not willing to sell -- not yet.
He said: "You can't build to sell. If you build to sell, you're not building anything of sustained value."
For anyone who is familiar with McCaw, this probably isn't too much of a surprise. He is a serial entrepreneur, starting and running a number of communication companies over the years. He won big when he sold McCaw Cellular Communications to AT&T, but lost fairly big with the closure of Teledesic, a satellite venture.
But, for better or worse, he's gone along for the ride to the very end in most cases.
Is there something else in the works now that Sprint Nextel and Clearwire have officially said they are not going through with their partnership announced in July?
Despite the break-up, Clearwire's CEO Ben Wolff hinted in the third-quarter conference call this morning that something else may still be in the works.
He said that because of the spectrum auction coming up in January, there has been immense interest in the wireless broadband business, and a Sprint partnership would have precluded working with anyone else.
And who that might be?
Google?
It's no secret that Google has been really interested in the business, pledging billions to participate in the auction and lobbying the FCC hard to tailor the spectrum to its desires.
Wolff said that he can't talk about any transactions publicly until they are complete, but that in general "I would say that there are a number of factors that caused an increased focus on the space that we are in," he said. "We are looking and exploring all of our strategic options and there's a quite a bit of focus on this space right now."
Wolff said it was only in the past 48 hours that the partnership with Sprint had fallen apart, and that he and Gary Forsee, who was Sprint's CEO at the time of the letter of intent, thought it would have closed within 60 days of the partnership's announcement in July. But since then, Forsee resigned and Sprint Nextel has come under increasing fire for its poor performance on its cellular networks, and investors are saying its upcoming WiMax business is a distraction to that core business.
As I wrote in the blog item before, Sprint said in its quarterly filing with the SEC this morning:
"We recently agreed with Clearwire Corporation to terminate the non-binding letter of intent signed by us and Clearwire in July 2007 that provided, among other things, for the joint construction of a nationwide broadband network
based on WiMAX technology."
In Clearwire's third-quarter press release, the company offered slightly more details, and sounded even optimistic, saying discussions with Sprint continue, but no partnership is guaranteed:
"Clearwire and Sprint Nextel continue their discussions regarding how best to collaborate for the deployment of a nationwide mobile WiMAX network. Over the course of the parties' discussions, Clearwire and Sprint concluded that the joint build transaction originally contemplated by the previously announced letter of intent was likely to introduce a level of additional complexity to each party's business that would be inconsistent with each company's focus on simplicity and the customer experience. Consequently, the parties have agreed to terminate their obligations under the letter of intent, although discussions continue regarding the best means to accomplish the benefits that were expected under the letter of intent. Notwithstanding the ongoing discussions, there can be no assurance that a transaction or agreement between Clearwire and Sprint Nextel will be concluded."
Wolff said: "We are continuing to discuss with Sprint on how to collaborate, but I can't tell you if we will ultimately have a partnership with Sprint or not, but I can tell you that all of our reasons to support the original reason to sign the letter of intent are still there. These opportunities may include other strategic transactions or partnerships, which may or may not include Sprint. There's more demand for the type of networks that Clearwire is building today."
Is there something else in the works now that Sprint Nextel and Clearwire have officially said they are not going through with their partnership announced in July?
Despite the break-up, Clearwire's CEO Ben Wolff hinted in the third-quarter conference call this morning that something else may still be in the works.
He said that because of the spectrum auction coming up in January, there has been immense interest in the wireless broadband business, and a Sprint partnership would have precluded working with anyone else.
And who that might be?
Google?
It's no secret that Google has been really interested in the business, pledging billions to participate in the auction and lobbying the FCC hard to tailor the spectrum to its desires.
Wolff said that he can't talk about any transactions publicly until they are complete, but that in general "I would say that there are a number of factors that caused an increased focus on the space that we are in," he said. "We are looking and exploring all of our strategic options and there's a quite a bit of focus on this space right now."
Wolff said it was only in the past 48 hours that the partnership with Sprint had fallen apart, and that he and Gary Forsee, who was Sprint's CEO at the time of the letter of intent, thought it would have closed within 60 days of the partnership's announcement in July. But since then, Forsee resigned and Sprint Nextel has come under increasing fire for its poor performance on its cellular networks, and investors are saying its upcoming WiMax business is a distraction to that core business.
As I wrote in the blog item before, Sprint said in its quarterly filing with the SEC this morning:
"We recently agreed with Clearwire Corporation to terminate the non-binding letter of intent signed by us and Clearwire in July 2007 that provided, among other things, for the joint construction of a nationwide broadband network
based on WiMAX technology."
In Clearwire's third-quarter press release, the company offered slightly more details, and sounded even optimistic, saying discussions with Sprint continue, but no partnership is guaranteed:
"Clearwire and Sprint Nextel continue their discussions regarding how best to collaborate for the deployment of a nationwide mobile WiMAX network. Over the course of the parties' discussions, Clearwire and Sprint concluded that the joint build transaction originally contemplated by the previously announced letter of intent was likely to introduce a level of additional complexity to each party's business that would be inconsistent with each company's focus on simplicity and the customer experience. Consequently, the parties have agreed to terminate their obligations under the letter of intent, although discussions continue regarding the best means to accomplish the benefits that were expected under the letter of intent. Notwithstanding the ongoing discussions, there can be no assurance that a transaction or agreement between Clearwire and Sprint Nextel will be concluded."
Wolff said: "We are continuing to discuss with Sprint on how to collaborate, but I can't tell you if we will ultimately have a partnership with Sprint or not, but I can tell you that all of our reasons to support the original reason to sign the letter of intent are still there. These opportunities may include other strategic transactions or partnerships, which may or may not include Sprint. There's more demand for the type of networks that Clearwire is building today."
I was expecting an update during Clearwire's third-quarter earnings conference call this morning on its partnership with Sprint Nextel to jointly build out a nationwide network.
But it came earlier than the 8 a.m. call.
In today's paper, we reported that the rumors were circulating that the partnership had ended. Sprint Nextel has come under increasing fire for having bad performance on its cellular networks -- and some investors find its upcoming WiMax business a distraction.
In Sprint's quarterly filing with the SEC filed early this morning it read:
"We recently agreed with Clearwire Corporation to terminate the non-binding letter of intent signed by us and Clearwire in July 2007 that provided, among other things, for the joint construction of a nationwide broadband network
based on WiMAX technology."
The "other things" included access to Sprint's cellular network. That would have been valuable in providing a triple play (voice, TV, Internet). It would have also helped in branding efforts.
Clearwire's stock is falling, and is down about 20 percent based on the news. Here's the story from the AP.
In Clearwire's third-quarter press release, the company was slightly more optimistic, saying discussions with Sprint continue, but no partnership is guaranteed.
"Clearwire and Sprint Nextel continue their discussions regarding how best to collaborate for the deployment of a nationwide mobile WiMAX network. Over the course of the parties' discussions, Clearwire and Sprint concluded that the joint build transaction originally contemplated by the previously announced letter of intent was likely to introduce a level of additional complexity to each party's business that would be inconsistent with each company's focus on simplicity and the customer experience. Consequently, the parties have agreed to terminate their obligations under the letter of intent, although discussions continue regarding the best means to accomplish the benefits that were expected under the letter of intent. Notwithstanding the ongoing discussions, there can be no assurance that a transaction or agreement between Clearwire and Sprint Nextel will be concluded."
I was expecting an update during Clearwire's third-quarter earnings conference call this morning on its partnership with Sprint Nextel to jointly build out a nationwide network.
But it came earlier than the 8 a.m. call.
In today's paper, we reported that the rumors were circulating that the partnership had ended. Sprint Nextel has come under increasing fire for having bad performance on its cellular networks -- and some investors find its upcoming WiMax business a distraction.
In Sprint's quarterly filing with the SEC filed early this morning it read:
"We recently agreed with Clearwire Corporation to terminate the non-binding letter of intent signed by us and Clearwire in July 2007 that provided, among other things, for the joint construction of a nationwide broadband network
based on WiMAX technology."
The "other things" included access to Sprint's cellular network. That would have been valuable in providing a triple play (voice, TV, Internet). It would have also helped in branding efforts.
Clearwire's stock is falling, and is down about 20 percent based on the news. Here's the story from the AP.
In Clearwire's third-quarter press release, the company was slightly more optimistic, saying discussions with Sprint continue, but no partnership is guaranteed.
"Clearwire and Sprint Nextel continue their discussions regarding how best to collaborate for the deployment of a nationwide mobile WiMAX network. Over the course of the parties' discussions, Clearwire and Sprint concluded that the joint build transaction originally contemplated by the previously announced letter of intent was likely to introduce a level of additional complexity to each party's business that would be inconsistent with each company's focus on simplicity and the customer experience. Consequently, the parties have agreed to terminate their obligations under the letter of intent, although discussions continue regarding the best means to accomplish the benefits that were expected under the letter of intent. Notwithstanding the ongoing discussions, there can be no assurance that a transaction or agreement between Clearwire and Sprint Nextel will be concluded."
Clearwire's stock fell $3.23, or nearly 14 percent today, to $20.38, representing the largest drop since the company went public. The decline came after a series of events spooked investors, according to Bloomberg.
Here's some of the factors:
-- Bear Stearns cut its rating on the Kirkland company's stock to "peer perform" from "outperform."
-- Bear Stearns said there may be delays in signing a final agreement with Sprint Nextel to co-build a nationwide WiMax network.
-- Bear Stearns said a delay could mean Clearwire needs to borrow more money.
-- Sprint Nextel is quietly seeking a replacement for CEO Gary Forsee, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing "people familiar with the matter."
-- A major rainstorm with possible winds brewing could knock down its network in Seattle.
OK, I'm kidding about that last one, but a number of things obviously could affect Clearwire's short-term performance.
Following the slide, Sid Parakh, an analyst with McAdams Wright Ragen in Seattle, reaffirmed its $28 price target.
He said concerns about Sprint's turmoil are valid, but in a nutshell, Clearwire is still on track as a standalone company. It is on target to build out networks in its territories on time, and it has sufficient funds to do so at least until sometime in 2008, he said.
"In addition, CLWR has powerful partners in Intel and Motorola that, we speculate, may be open to the idea of added investments in Clearwire," Parakh wrote.
CHICAGO -- This probably should have been one of my first posts, but sometimes things don't happen in order.
There was a lot of talk this week about future devices that will emerge once networks start getting up and running. The first thing in the progression seems to be modems that can be used at home or at certain locations. Nextwill be PC cards for laptops, then laptops embedded with WiMax chips, and from there -- who knows? A host of consumer devices will go up for sale with WiMax, for instance, MP3 players, cameras, handheld gaming devices and more.
But if you are having a hard time picturing the home modem, I took a picture Thursday. As you can see, it is portable, but it's not particularly handy for toting around. Typically these also have to be plugged into an outlet.
This is for the Sprint Nextel Xohm network. The booth workers say it looks like a coffee cup. If that's true, they must be from Seattle -- it's pretty dang big.
CHICAGO -- At WiMax World Thursday, Clearwire's Scott Richardson gave hourlong presentation on the progress the Kirkland company has made on deploying a wireless broadband network.
I wrote about the show's final keynote speech for today's paper here.
But in addition to what I wrote about Richardson, Clearwire's chief strategy officer, said he's been spending a lot of time with other vendors and suppliers since the industry has the potential to include a lot of different gadgets and ideas.
Richardson is helping to build the WiMax ecosystem, a concept that Sprint Nextel talks a lot about as it prepares to build its WiMax network.
As an illustration of the types of people Richardson spends time with, he invited on stage with him another company -- Postdata's Flyvo division, which is developing WiMax devices.
On stage, they gave a demonstration of a handheld video game device that can connect to the Iternet. The user can play not only games online with other competitors in cyberspace, but they can also surf the Web.
I caught up with Flyvo's business development manager Ross Lee on the show floor.
He said the device is targeted to launch soon in Korea with KT Telecom
and will cost about $400, but may be offered through the carrier for a $200 discount. He said the demand is expected to be high there, where playing online games is popular.
CHICAGO -- This year's WiMax World has 100 more exhibitors than last year, and booths seem twice as big, considering that they actually have gadgets and other gear to demo.
If you are looking for an example of someone here for the first time, you don't have to look that far.
Spokane-based ReliOn, a company building fuel cells for back-up power needs, is a newbie to the show.
Sandra Saathoff, ReliOn's spokeswoman, said the industry seems to be hitting a point at which it may need backup power solutions for cell sites.
Part of the reason is that the FCC may mandate that cellphone companies, and conceivably WiMax providers that provide voice services, must provide eight hours of backup in case of an emergency.
ReliOn has built a closet-sized system using fuel cells and hydrogen tanks that can provide 48 hours of continuous 1 kilowatt output. Cell sites could require more than that output, which would decrease the amount of time the hydrogen would last. The cabinet costs somewhere in the $14,000 range, but is much more compact than batteries, Saathof said.
CHICAGO -- Clearwire this morning received the Best of WiMax World USA 2007 Award in the service provider category.
The annual awards, announced by xchange magazine, recognize leaders in the development and deployment of the high-speed wireless broadband technology.
Clearwire will be recognized in the November issue of xchange, as well as on the WiMax World Web site.
Clearwire is providing wireless broadband based on technology that is a pre-cursor to WiMax. It allows you to plug a modem into an electrical outlet on one end and into a laptop or PC on the other in order to make a connection. The service is offered in more than 40 markets in the U.S., including Seattle.
The rest of the winners are expected to be posted sometime today here.
UPDATE: Here's an entire list of the winners:
The WiMAX World USA Award winners were:
-- Chip Design: Sequans Communications SQN1130
-- System Design: ZyXel MAX-1200/3200 Mobile WiMAX Product Series
-- Device/Peripheral/Application Software: Airspan Networks MiMAX USB
-- Industry Innovation: Sprint Xohm Mobile Internet Services
-- WiMAX World Digital Cities Deployment: Telsima WiMAX Rollout in India
-- Industry Choice: WiMAX CPEi 800/850 Series Desktop CPE
CHICAGO -- Nokia showed off a tablet integrated into the dashboard of a Mini Cooper. I didn't get the full demo of how it would work, but I know that the device would control the car's entertainment system. I think it also does navigation. As you can see, you can take the device with you when you leave the car, giving new meaning to a car stereo faceplate.
This is the second part of the Motorola demos. The first one -- in the last post -- demonstrated how Google Maps works over WiMax. In this one, Motorola shows how a browser can work over WiMax.
In both cases, the demonstration took place at a meeting room at WiMax World. For an accurate experience, Motorola set up a base station in the room using its own technology tonnected to the Internet using a T1 line. The WiMax chipset is in a phone that looks very much like the Razr.
A product marketing manager said the end WiMax product will look much different than a Razr.
Here's a video of a demonstration using the Opera browser:
CHICAGO -- I reported a story today recounting how for the first time the focus at WiMax World was on devices and applications rather than justbuilding the networks.
Even though networks won't be up and running until late this year or early next, the devices are set to launch at about the same time.
The early emphasis will be on PC cards, which can easily be plugged into a laptop for WiMax connectivity. However, there's an emerging category of devices that are smaller than laptops, but larger mobile phones.
Check out a conversation I had with Chris Staley, Nokia's vice president of sales and customer and market operations. He did a good job explaining where the category is going:
CHICAGO -- The energy here at McCormick Place has cranked up today, the first day of WiMax World.
Yesterday, the show had a pre-conference day that seemed mild and subdued for an industry on the cusp of rolling out its first commercial networks.
That changed today with this morning's keynotes.
Sean Maloney, an executive vice president at Intel who was being called the father of WiMax, opened up his presentation with an energizing video called "WiMax Love."
He said that WiMax should aim for global domination, just as the cellphone industry went after the whole world.
"It's a dangerous time. We've come a long way from our pioneering work and from standards setting," he said. "We are at the deployment stage, and this is where the race is going to be won or lost over the next year or two."
He listed four challenges that the industry must address:
-- Performance of WiMax networks.
-- Applications must have the capability of the Internet. The Interent is not going to re-optimize everything for smaller devices, so the mobile industry must optimize for the Internet
-- Keep costs low. The chips should be $30 and the customer shouldn't have to pay more than $30 a month.
-- Make things easy to use. Everyone must be able to figure out how to use it.
Maloney's keynote was followed by Barry West, chief technology officer at Sprint Nextel.
He said that WiMax is like a horse out of the stable and running around the track. "There's no other horse in sight," he said.
West said WiMax is definitely in the lead ahead of other technologies. The closest one is LTE, or long-term evolution, which is an adaption from the GSM world -- the technology used by T-Mobile USA and AT&T's wireless division.
Motorola Chief Technology Officer Padmasree Warrior concluded the keynotes.
She said WiMax is much better than existing 3G wireless broadband technologies. She said WiMax has three times better performance and two times the spectrum efficiency at half the cost.
As an example of an application used on a WiMax network, she gave a demonstration. She said YouTube is great, but unfortunately it is in the past -- everything on it is already old news. With WiMax you can make it real-time.
Using a software application that looked like instant messenging, she shared a TV session with some colleagues at Motorola's Schaumburg, Ill.,headquarters, while having live chat sessions, such as a video conference.
Although the demo involved viewing the Discovery channel, you can imagine it might be more compelling with a live football game.
CHICAGO -- The energy here at McCormick Place has cranked up today, the first day of WiMax World.
Yesterday, the show had a pre-conference day that seemed mild and subdued for an industry on the cusp of rolling out its first commercial networks.
That changed today with this morning's keynotes.
Sean Maloney, an executive vice president at Intel who was being called the father of WiMax, opened up his presentation with an energizing video called "WiMax Love."
He said that WiMax should aim for global domination, just as the cellphone industry went after the whole world.
"It's a dangerous time. We've come a long way from our pioneering work and from standards setting," he said. "We are at the deployment stage, and this is where the race is going to be won or lost over the next year or two."
He listed four challenges that the industry must address:
-- Performance of WiMax networks.
-- Applications must have the capability of the Internet. The Interent is not going to re-optimize everything for smaller devices, so the mobile industry must optimize for the Internet
-- Keep costs low. The chips should be $30 and the customer shouldn't have to pay more than $30 a month.
-- Make things easy to use. Everyone must be able to figure out how to use it.
Maloney's keynote was followed by Barry West, chief technology officer at Sprint Nextel.
He said that WiMax is like a horse out of the stable and running around the track. "There's no other horse in sight," he said.
West said WiMax is definitely in the lead ahead of other technologies. The closest one is LTE, or long-term evolution, which is an adaption from the GSM world -- the technology used by T-Mobile USA and AT&T's wireless division.
Motorola Chief Technology Officer Padmasree Warrior concluded the keynotes.
She said WiMax is much better than existing 3G wireless broadband technologies. She said WiMax has three times better performance and two times the spectrum efficiency at half the cost.
As an example of an application used on a WiMax network, she gave a demonstration. She said YouTube is great, but unfortunately it is in the past -- everything on it is already old news. With WiMax you can make it real-time.
Using a software application that looked like instant messenging, she shared a TV session with some colleagues at Motorola's Schaumburg, Ill.,headquarters, while having live chat sessions, such as a video conference.
Although the demo involved viewing the Discovery channel, you can imagine it might be more compelling with a live football game.
CHICAGO -- Fred Wright, senior vice president of Motorola's broadband business, took the stage this morning and reflected on WiMax World's growth.
Wright was one of the early participants in the conference, now holding its fourth annual session.
He said there were 500 attendees and a handful of exhibitors in 2004, and this year the number has soared to more than 8,000.
The show's growth mirrors the huge opportunity in front of them, Wright said. He shared statistics that said only 2 percent, or about 5 million people, were using wireless broadband in 2006. By 2010, that number is supposed to go up to as many as 73 million.
Yankee Group Analyst Berge Ayvazian gave an industry update prior to the keynotes this morning. He said that there are more than 275 WiMax trials going on worldwide in 65 countries. Of those trials, 75 are actually commercial services offering fixed and nomadic wireless broadband.
A lot of those trials and deployments are in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East and India.
There's also a handful in the U.S. I write a lot about Clearwire's efforts, which have extended to services in more than 30 U.S. cities, and about Sprint Nextel, which is expected to launch its Xohm service in a handful of markets as soon as December.
But there are others as well. DigitalBridge is serving small towns in Idaho and Montana, and Horizon Wi-Com is rolling out services in the Northeast, where Verizon's territory has traditionally been located.
Overall, there's a lot of talk about two emerging markets.
In Third World markets, WiMax is attempting to bring phone and Internet access to a lot of communities for the first time. The wireless technology is proving to be much easier to deploy than traditional wireline services.
In the U.S., the market is about creating new competition and giving people mobility. It's about untethering the Internet to create a whole new set of applications as people's lives become more focused around multimedia, social networks and other applications.
CHICAGO -- I ducked into a session on operating WiMax networks Tuesday, and I stumbled upon a company called IntraISP, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kirkland-based Clearwire.
Steve Roatch, executive vice president and chief operating officer of IntraISP, was speaking on the panel.
He said that Clearwire acquired IntraISP in June at a very early stage. The company is focused on managing billing and customer management software for WiMax and broadband networks.
Roatch said when Clearwire was looking for a billing system, it didn't approach traditional vendors that serve the telecom industry. Instead it turned to Internet-focused companies. IntraISP got its start serving AOL/Netscape, Roatch said.
And, although Clearwire bought IntraISP, it's allowed to serve even competing WiMax service providers.
He said the big challenge in IT for WiMax networks is staying ahead of plan.
"Keeping up with the business is one of the greatest challenges," he said.
That's especially true as marketing and development teams add new content and applications customers demand.
"The big challenge is in delivering personal broadband," he said.
CHICAGO -- At WiMax World last night, Motorola invited the press, analysts and some partners on board a river boat in downtown Chicago to demonstrate some of its WiMax products expected to launch early next year.
The live demonstration required installing four base stations at different points along the Chicago River to deliver the service. In opening remarks, Motorola said it didn't realize what it was getting into when someone had the great idea of demonstrating WiMax on the river. It was essentially an urban canyon because radio frequencies tend to scatter when they hit water and the river is 30 feet below street level.
But as you'll see the demonstration went fairly well.
Here's a map of where the cell sites were located:
And here's what a WiMax base station looks like on top of a building:
The more interesting stuff came when Motorola pulled out the devices that were going to use WiMax. I wrote earlieron this blog about how the key was in applications -- not the network. Here are two examples of applications to add to the list:
First up is a live demonstration of a WiMax chipset being used to stream videos from YouTube to the phone. The phone is a working prototype of WiMax, which is not expected to launch commercially until later next year. (Excuse the amateur video quality, I'm a beginner. Also, I apologize for the poor sound quality, but it was very loud in the background because of the number of people on the boat).
In this video, you can see how the WiMax PC card will work in a laptop. WiMax covers much larger distances than Wi-Fi. In the beginning of this clip, you can hear a Motorola executive in the background saying how someday my video could go straight to the Web via WiMax, skipping the mundane process of recording it to tape and then transfering it to my PC and then to the Internet on YouTube.
CHICAGO -- This is my second WiMax World. Last year, the conference was celebrating the fact that a big-time carrier, Sprint Nextel, had chosen its technology to deploy for its new wireless broadband network.
This year, I'm trying to get a sense of what the buzz is all about.
And although it's super early, I can already feel that the honeymoon period has subsided somewhat, and there are a lot of nuts and bults conversations going on about how they are going to make this all work.
The two main questions I'm hearing are:
-- How will the carriers make money?
-- And what will be the "killer" applications that will drive adoption of the technology?
There are many other issues, too, but I find the second question the most difficult one to find answers for.
I'll probably write a few blogs on this topic, but there were already a couple potential answers shared during this morning's sessions.
Atish Gude, the senior vice president of Sprint Nextel's mobile broadband operations called Xohm, said his company will figure it out later.
"I think it's about the right business model, and it's about having a network that can handle tremendous amounts of Internet time at a low cost," he said. "People will find uses for taking it with them and application developers will come up with great ideas."
To be fair, he later followed up with a slightly more clarified statement: "The first step ought to be taking what they use on the Internet and making it mobile, and after that there can be a lot of models that could be even better...It's not about technology, it's an experience. What do people get when people take their content with them -- and I'm not just talking about your Yahoo or Google content, but your own information from your media center PC at home. It's about accessing that on an anywhere basis -- that's the experience that Xohm is really meant to be."
Richard Lowe, a president at Nortel offered a personal example of how he would use it.
He said it would start at home, where he'd receive an early phone call from a co-worker right as he is leaving the house. He'd transfer it to his iPhone, so he could conduct a video conference call. On the way out of the house, he passes the refridgerator, where he would receive an updated shopping list. Once he gets into the car, the car would automatically pull the address of where he is going and give him turn-by-turn directions. Once he parks at a meter, the car automatically pays the fee, and then sends the charge up to his Quicken account, which would make the deduction.
He said: "4G is more than access, applications and mobility." The term he was keen on using to describe this was "hyperconnectivity."
"It doesn't equal mobility," he said. "It's about a lifestyle that exists out there."
CHICAGO -- Things are still just ramping up here, while Yankee Group analyst Philip Marshall started this morning's keynotes with some perspective.
He said more than 40 percent of consumers surveyed want mobile Internet access, but less than 10 percent can access the Internet on the go.
He said that's because it's expensive, it's not packaged attractively by wireless carriers and, to a lesser extent, the service performs poorly.
From a WiMax provider's perspective, he asked, how do you economically deliver mobile Internet services in an environment that's looking for unlimited data, or all you can eat?.
He said that puts the pressure on the carriers to figure out how to make money as they transition from focusing on voice calling to an Internet model.
"The Internet is emerging using the service provider as a distribution and market," he said. "It looks like an Internet browser and the service providers are challenged by that because the service model has to change."
He said providers need to move from a communications-centric model to a media- centric model. He points to Google, which took the fairly straightforward technology of Internet search and bundled it with advertising.
Marshall summarized the current market has having latent demand for mobile Internet.
Moderator Berge Ayvazian, also of Yankee, asked Marshall if latent demand means pent-up demand: "Is it latent because people don't bang on the door insisting for it, and asking to uncork it and unbottle it?"
Marshall said perhaps that's true if companies provide services that consumers really want, just like on the Internet, but they had to find the applications that would really drive adoption.
"I'm not sure what those services are going to look like in the mobile world," he said. "whereas in the Internet world, we had to go beyond just connection."
It is broadband Internet access delivered wirelessly to you wherever you are.
For starters, mobile WiMax will probably come from a PC card or a chip in your laptop that allows you to get Internet access. It's similar to Wi-Fi, except that the coverage will be more extensive.
Down the road, new uses are envisioned: WiMax chips installed in cars to provide navigation or cameras that come with the chips.
Speeds: It's expected that the service can deliver up to 20 to 30 megabits per second, a lot faster than DSL or cable, which runs from 1 to 8 megabits.
However, those speeds are possible only if few people are using the service. It's more likely the speeds will be about 2 to 3 Mbps. As demand for faster speeds grows, it can be increased.
Mo Shakouri, vice president of marketing at the WiMAX Forum, said mobile WiMax can reach 30 megabit speeds for each 10 MHz of spectrum. For perspective, Sprint and Clearwire have about 100 MHz, so they are could provide up to 300 megabits.
Cost: Based on what service providers say, they are expecting to charge more than rates for DSL or cable today because their service, they say, is more valuable.
Radio cost: One of the biggest reasons cellular chipsets have not been integrated into consumer-electronic devices more readily is they cost a lot. WiMax chipsets are supposed to be cheaper. Because they aren't much bigger than Wi-Fi chipsets today, the silicon expense should not be much higher.
CHICAGO -- I wrote an advance story Monday about WiMax World that gave a small update as to where the emerging wireless broadband technology stands.
But I didn't get into too many specifics because I thought it might bog down the story with too many technical details. I figured I would take a moment to do that now.
To get the skinny, I talked to Mo Shakouri, vice president of marketing at
the WiMax Forum, a trade association.
First, I characterized WiMax as an emerging technology because a standard for the technology was extablished only recently, and now companies in the field must go through a certification process to get their equipment deemed "true mobile WiMax." The geeky term for that is 802.16e.
So currently there is no mobile WiMax in the world today. Those that offer similar services, such as Kirkland-based Clearwire, are using proprietary equipment (probably from Motorola), or they're offering fixed WiMax, which comes under the name of 802.16d.
But that's going to change soon.
Shakouri said by the end of the year there will be five certification labsaround the world. The one in the U.S. will be in Virginia.
The labs are checking to see if everything works together. For instance, the base stations have to be able to interact with WiMax PC cards and handheld devices.
"We are on target for mobile certification for 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz by the end of this year and beginning of next year," he said. "We expect to get mobile equipment certified in the first half of 2008."
So why is it that Sprint Nextel says it will have its WiMax network up and running in select cities by the first of the year?
Shakouri explained there are two reasons. One: Over the past six to nine months, work has been conducted to take the risk out of the certification process. If a problem does arise, it's likely to be small. "Because of that, people have been more comfortable and are taking the risk," he said.
The second reason is that there is an urgency in deploying the technology.
"Normally you would have said, I will wait until the equipment is certified, but the demand is so high," Shakouri said. "The operator is taking the risk....They believe that there is such industry momentum."
He said the WiMax Forum has counted 270 operators deploying and testing equipment around the world, and 50-plus are talking about deployment.
CHICAGO -- I flew in on Monday in order to get here on time to attend WiMax World today.
I shared a cab with a woman from the airport to our downtown hotels.
It was during that cab ride that I realized something: that there is a new universal hand signal for using an iPhone, just as there's a sign for typing on the BlackBerry. If you can't picture the BlackBerry sign, think of holding an invisible device with both hands and then pretending to type with two thumbs. That usually follows phrases such as "I'll e-mail you, or I sent you an e-mail."
Well, that's not the sign for an iPhone.
Get this, the woman sitting next to me in the cab, who was turning 70 years old in January, was a die-hard iPhone user. In fact, she had forgotten her phone at home when her husband dropped her off at the airport in Memphis. Luckily her flight was delayed, and he went home, got the iPhone and brought it back from her. She told this story as if her life was about to end without the thing. She said she wouldn't know where she was going for lunch, or be able to call the person she was meeting.
All the while, she was gesturing. It wasn't acting out two-thumb typing; instead, her index finger stretched straight and made a left-to-right swiping motion, imitating the move to unlock the screen or to scroll left and right and up and down.
The woman didn't stop there. The self-proclaimed photo maniac showed me pictures of her grandchildren, zooming in and out on their face, and then even switched to the weather application to tell me what the weather was going to be like while in Chicago (the answer to that is HOT and muggy).
So this is a warning. Prepare to start seeing people swiping their fingers in the air when they say, "I'll call you."
At the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Intel discussed Wednesday how it sees the mobile Internet taking shape.
Intel is one of the biggest investors in Kirkland-based Clearwire, and has huge commitments to the emerging WiMax wireless broadband technology.
It promised in a press release issued Wednesday that it will "usher in a new era of reliable broadband-connected wireless computing starting next year."
The way I understand this is that there will be a new category of devices that will come out for WiMax networks that are smaller than a laptop, but bigger than a phone. That category is largely being called UMPCs, for ultra-mobile PCs, but now Intel is also calling them Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs).
The deal with these devices is that, unlike a laptop, they are considered low power, so they could conceivably last you all day -- more like a cellphone. This is especially appealing if you have ever been at a conference and you are frantically trying to get some work done when you realize you are in the battery red zone and have to find an outlet immediately. The solution today usually includes looking under the skirts of several tables until you find an outlet, and then sitting on the floor.
However, Intel gave a different reason as to why this is important -- it said mobile WiMax will be needed because user-generated addicted people will need higher speeds to access high-definition videos, music, photos and other large data files on the go.
"In the first half of 2008, Intel will take a major step to deliver what these users are looking for with our first platform designed from the ground up for MIDs and UMPCs -- codenamed Menlow, which will deliver 10x lower power compared to the first UMPCs in the market. After Menlow our next-generation platform -- codenamed Moorestown, will increase battery life an order of magnitude by reducing idle power by 10x compared to Menlow," said Anand Chandrasekher, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the Ultra Mobility Group.
Here's a video Intel posted to YouTube that has Chandrasekher showing off a number of these devices. If you watch towards the end, there's one that looks like a stretched out iPhone.
If you didn't get enough in the last video, you can see a another presentation that's pretty silly. In this video, an Intel worker uses WiMax to prepare for jump off a cliff in Zion National Park. His friend at the bottom of the rock checks the weather and makes an payment on his buddy's health insurance.
Cellphones have become so essential, people would rather go without TV, but when choosing between cellphones and Internet access, the Internet wins, according to a new survey released this week.
JWT, a large U.S. advertising agency, asked about 1,000 people a number of technology questions earlier this month. The results show that cellphones and Internet access are playing a very important role in people's lives.
Asled how long people could go without Internet access, 15 percent of respondents said a day or less, 21 percent said a couple of days and 19 percent said a few days.
A lot of the findings seem to make a good business case for cellphone operators, as well as WiMax service providers such as Kirkland-based Clearwire and Sprint Nextel, which are all rolling out mobile Internet access.
"Mobility represents the next big shift," says Marian Salzman, JWT's executive vice president and chief marketing officer. "Older Americans are happy to sit in the same place to go online, while younger people expect to be able to connect anywhere at any time."
In fact, 48 percent of respondents agreed with the statement: "If I cannot access the Internet when I want to, I feel like something important is missing."
Monica Paolini, an analyst with Senza Fili Consulting in Issaquah, sent out a report today examining whether the partnership between Clearwire and Sprint Nextel was healthy for the roll out of WiMax wireless broadband networks.
As part of the deal, explained in this story, Sprint Nextel and Clearwire expect to build out portions of the nationwide network and enable roaming between their two systems. Sprint Nextel will cover the more populated areas, potentially reaching up to 185 million people, or about 75 percent of the population in the 50 largest markets. Clearwire is focusing on areas covering about 115 million people. The two companies expect to be able to cover about 100 million people by the end of next year.
Her conclusion is long and in depth and goes into many technical reasons, but in a nutshell the answer is yes.
"The planned partnership between Sprint and Clearwire shows how cooperation can be more beneficial to the market than competition," she wrote.
A lengthy description goes into how both companies have a lot of spectrum -- the airwaves that the service will travel on -- but that they'll need them if they plan to offer a speedy service with lots of bandwidth to many customers.
"Cooperation enables both operators to deploy a more robust network that supports better performance and to do so in a cost effective way while also developing a combined footprint that is more attractive to subscribers and wholesale partners."
Clearwire has begun selling PC cards to let Seattle customers access its broadband service without having to lug around a modem, according to InfoWorld.
The card will easily fit into a laptop, bypassing the modem, which has to be plugged into an outlet.
According to InfoWorld, anyone can visit a Clearwire store in the Seattle area and sign up for the portable service. After rebates, the PC card, made by Motorola, costs $80. Monthly service costs $60 (compared with the $42 charge for the bulky modem) and offers 1.5Mbps download speed.
I reported in August that Clearwire was going to start testing the PC card in a few unspecified markets. It makes sense to test it on their home turf.
At the time, the company also said it will test in the same markets a faster residential connection speed at 2 megabits per second (Mbps), bursting up to 4 mbps, for $44.99 a month (that compares with 1.5 Mbps and 3 Mbps for the top-speed plan).
Clearwire, which is building wireless broadband networks worldwide, said today that it launched a network for the first time in Spain.
Spain marks Clearwire's third international market. The Kirkland-based company, started by wireless entrepreneur Craig McCaw, also has networks in Ireland and Belgium, and through joint partnerships in Denmark and Mexico.
In Spain, Clearwire chose Seville, the Andalusian capital, as its first market. The service is called Instant Internet, or Instanet. In Seville, Clearwire will cover more than 300,000 households and 850,000 residents.
The release talks up the benefit of Clearwire's set-up requirements, which eliminate the "hassles or delays of traditional ADSL services." Clearwire requires no software installations or visits to the home.
Clearwire is directing people in Spain to the Web site at www.clearwire.es/, where the tagline for "instanet" is "the internet without telephone lines." In addition, it says imagine having access to the Internet and being able to surf within one hour.
Clearwire sounds like it is trying to appeal to people who have had a hard time working with the telephone company, and providing better customer service.
The Spanish network is still using the older version of wireless broadband, and not mobile WiMax, which will be the standard going forward.
WiMax will be the focus of a trade show starting in two weeks in Chicago. Clearwire's CEO Ben Wolff will keynote at WiMax World on Sept. 27, on the topic of "Clearwire's vision for WiMax Mobile Broadband."
UPDATE: Wolff will no longer be Clearwire's keynote at the event due to a scheduling conflict. Taking his place will be Scott Richardson, Clearwire's chief strategy officer. His talk will give an update on Clearwire's progress and go into examples of how people will use mobile WiMax, also being called personal broadband.
Clearwire, the Kirkland-based company that is helping to build a nationwide wireless broadband network using WiMax, said today it is partnering with ICO Global Communications, a satellite company.
The joint agreement will include collaborating on mobile video trials -- starting early next year in Raleigh, N.C. ICO is also planning a similar trial in Las Vegas, Nev.
Although ICO is based in Reston, Va., it has very close ties to Clearwire.
For starters, its human resources and finance office is based in Kirkland, near Clearwire. Also, Clearwire founder and Chairman Craig McCaw is an investor and the chairman of ICO's board. Overall, the company's board includes some of the top executives from Clearwire's ranks, including Gerard Salemme, a Clearwire executive vice president, and Ben Wolff, Clearwire's CEO.
The press release issued today said the collaboration between the two will test connecting wireless broadband and satellite TV, allowing for interactive mobile video -- something that is gaining attention as wireless and entertainment worlds start to merge. People are starting to look at how joint relationships could be more valuable than just combining mobile and TV on one bill (I explored that topic in this story on the so-called triple and quadruple play).
"Our next generation wireless personal broadband networks are built to deliver data, voice and video over a single network," said Scott Richardson, Clearwire's chief strategy officer. He said it makes sense to work with ICO to test "an interactive mobile video element" that can add to Cleawire's offerings in areas where it doesn't plan to build its nework, while also enhancing the use of infrastructure and spectrum where the coverage overlaps.
Tim Bryan, ICO's CEO also weighed in by saying, "We are well positioned to be the first provider of next-generation mobile satellite services, and we have a clearly differentiated offering by leveraging integrated satellite and terrestrial networks to deliver advanced consumer mobility services."
Who knows exactly what the trial will look like for users, but the company said ICO will provide multiple TV channels to "large-screen user devices."
Alcatel-Lucent will supply the system architecture and design based on mobile multimedia DVB-SH (an open standard, unlike Qualcomm's MediaFlo mobile TV proprietary technology, which is used by Verizon Wireless and others). Hughes Network Systems will provide the device as well as interactive elements.
Ever since Google showed interest in participating in the next auction selling airwaves for a wireless network, the Internet giant has received a fair amount of skepticism.
But take this into account: Google's Mountain View, Calif. Wi-Fi network is celebrating its one-year anniversary. Where many telecom companies and others haven't been able to get Wi-Fi networks up and running on a reliable basis, perhaps Google has.
On its anniversary, it provided a few data points. It said 400 Wi-Fi routers cover 12 square miles and 25,000 homes. Google said about 15,000 unique users connect to the network each month, and since the beginning of this year, traffic has grown almost 10 percent each month.
Google used this anniversary to get across two messages. The first is why it built the network. It says it is into promoting alternative platforms for people to access the Web because many people still don't have access.
Second, Google said that if it can do it, surely EarthLink and San Francisco can figure out how to roll out a citywide network. The two have been working on a plan for some time to blanket the whole city, but without showing much progress.
It's also worth asking where else Google is headed in the wireless world. There are rumors floating around that the company has developed a Gphone that will launch next month. The Business Standard reported that the phone's launch will come with a financial committment of $7 billion to $8 billion.
Google also has said it earmarked a minimum of $4.6 billion for the spectrum auction in January if the FCC would approve a number of Google's proposals. The FCC did not approve all of them, however Google said it still might participate.
The FCC has set a date for the upcoming airwave auction that has generated quite a bit of debate over the past few months as Google and others push to change the way wireless networks operate.
The spectrum, considered valuable for providing wireless broadband Internet access, will be auctioned off startng Jan. 16, 2008. The FCC is also seeking opinions on how it has chosen to sell off the spectrum.
A: For any company or organization to operate a wireless service, it needs access to a sliver of airwaves, or so-called "spectrum," much of which is controlled by the federal government. The FCC will conduct an auction in January to sell rights to a swath of the spectrum that's ideal for providing wireless broadband services. Technically, that swath is the 700 megahertz band.
The spectrum will become available after television companies vacate airwaves they don't need as they convert to digital or high-definition television. That deadline is Feb. 17, 2009.
Q: What is Google asking for?
A: Google and other companies, including Frontline Wireless of Greensboro, N.C., proposed to the FCC that a portion of the spectrum being sold in January should be set aside for an "open access" network, one that would allow consumers to choose the device and applications they want regardless of whether a network operator has approved them.
This auction is quite significant. The FCC is estimating that the spectrum is worth $10.1 billion.
The FCC came up with that number by taking into account another recent auction, called Advanced Wireless Services (or AWS-1). The agency said in a document released today that comparing that sale with the upcoming one is fair, but that the 700 MHz band is better:
For instance, spectrum in the 700 MHz Band possesses superior propagation characteristics to AWS-1 spectrum. In addition, as of February 18, 2009, the 700 MHz Band spectrum will be unencumbered, while full access to AWS-1 spectrum requires the relocation of both Government and commercial incumbent users. Thus, other factors aside, 700 MHz Band licenses with comparable geographic service areas and bandwidth should have a higher market value than AWS-1 licenses.
If you remember, Bellevue-based T-Mobile USA was big participant in the AWS auction. It spent more than $4 billion, doubling its spectrum holdings in the top 100 markets.
In a news conference last October, T-Mobile detailed plans to start building out a 3G network on its new spectrum. It said at the time that it intended to provide the service commercially in mid-2007, and that most markets will have 3G by 2008.
Rumors have circulated that T-Mobile is getting ready to turn a few markets on soon.
CrunchGear is reporting that T-Mobile's first 3G device, also called a UMTS phone, will go on sale starting Sept. 10. At that time, it will be interesting to see what products T-Mobile will be selling to justify the higher-speed network.
Sprint Nextel announced Thursday that the brand name for its new WiMax service will be called Xohm (pronounced "Zoam").
And because Sprint is partnering with Kirkland-based Clearwire to build a nationwide network, the two companies will share that name.
In my story today, I talked about how Sprint unveiled the name first to employees in a short video that has now been posted on YouTube.
The video features Atish Gude, Sprint's senior vice president of mobile broadband operations, and Barry West, Sprint's chief technology officer. Both are casually dressed in jeans and polo shirts.
DirecTV said today that it signed a wholesale agreement with Current Group to provide high-speed Internet service over electric-power lines, according to The Wall Street Journal..
The story said DirecTV will bundle Current's broadband and voice over Internet services under the DirecTV brand.
The satellite TV company also recently announced a partnership with Kirkland-based Clearwire to bundle its wireless high-speed Internet access with DirecTV's TV service. In addition, it also resells Internet access from AT&T, Verizon Communications and Qwest Communications.
DirecTV has lined up all these partnerships to better compete with telephone and cable operators that have started to provide the quadruple play -- that means, bundling together TV, phone, wireless phone and Internet access. Obviously, it's not placing any bets on any one technology.
High-speed Internet access is not technically possible over satellite, or at least the way DirecTV provides service today.
Broadband over power lines is a fairly new technolog
