Clearwire launches VoIP over WiMAX network

One thing we know about Craig McCaw: He moves fast, and he moves with purpose. As of Monday, Clearwire's customers in Stockton, CA, are able to subscribe to a new service which will enable phone services over the Internet. Clearwire says it is the first widely deployed wireless broadband company to offer VoIP services in the U.S. Clearwire Internet Phone Service is a facilities-based phone service specifically designed for use over the Clearwire broadband network. The service was jointly developed with Bell Canada. Ben Wolff, Clearwire's co-president and chief strategy officer, said, "Bringing together Bell Canada's exceptional Internet voice platform and expertise with our next-generation wireless broadband network has enabled us to deliver an overall user experience that is superior."

Clearwire said it will only sell service to those who qualify for Enhanced 911 service. Among the features included in the company's offering are a local phone number within Clearwire's market, unlimited local and long-distance calling within the U.S. and Canada, international calling rates the company describes as "competitive," call forwarding, enhanced call forwarding, caller ID, voice mail, voice mail to email, three-way calling, call blocking and international call blocking. Clearwire customers will also be able to access and manage their call functions by using an online dashboard.

For more on Clearwire VoIP offering:
- see the company's press release [1] 

PLUS: When things move very fast, it is useful to step back and survey the landscape to gain a sense of prospective. The WiMAX evolution is moving very fast, and TeleCIS's David Sumi offers a useful survey [2] of developments to date.

ALSO: A new report from Research and Markets says that the BWA/WiMAX market in Brazil is poised for impressive growth. In 2005, the BWA equipment market opportunity was a mere $6 million, dominated by deployments of unlicensed 5.8 GHz equipment by WISPs and corporate users. R&M says that with the upcoming auction, the certification of new equipment and lower-cost equipment, the annual 3.5 GHz equipment opportunity will increase from $1 million in 2005 to $33 million in 2010. The 2.5 GHz market opportunity will also become substantial, with shipments projected at $31 million by 2010. Overall, the total accumulated equipment market for BWA/WiMAX in Brazil should reach $300 million by 2010, which makes Brazil a key market for BWA/WiMAX vendors for years to come. R&M projects an accumulated 768,000 subscribers by 2010 among residential and business users. WiMAX subscribers should represent two-thirds of this figure. Approximately 70 percent of the WiMAX subscribers will be mobile customers who are predominately residential, while fixed WiMAX will continue to be driven by large corporations followed by SME customers. Article [3]