Clearwire's WiMAX spectrum position vs. LTE's dominance. Who will win?
Is it the spectrum that will give Clearwire a distinct advantage over major rivals such as AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless in the new high-speed broadband data world? That was the message that Clearwire, which is set to merge its WiMAX assets with Sprint Nextel's, hammered home to investors last week. Its message: AT&T and Verizon cannot match the company for spectrum.
"We believe the LTE operators will be hard-pressed to find the spectrum to build a nationwide broadband network," Clearwire CTO John Saw said at the investor event, according to an article in Unstrung.
Indeed, once Clearwire merges its business with Sprint Nextel, the operator will have more than 120 megahertz of spectrum per market in the 2.5 GHz band. This will allow Clearwire to offer download speeds of 6 to 15 MB/s per user, said Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff. Those kinds of data speeds and capacity will enable the operator to move beyond pure high-speed data offerings and into services such as wireless HDTV, according to the company.
Plus, according to the Mobile Pricing Report from Tariff Consultancy, unlimited data bundles are becoming the norm for mobile operators worldwide. The trend toward inclusive and unlimited offers is becoming unstoppable and data plan bundling represents the new battleground for mobile operators looking for growth. That means a huge swath of spectrum is an important competitive tool in a marketing environment that is inevitably headed toward all-you-can-eat pricing. The nature of the Internet is changing. Streaming music, streaming video and a lot of other bandwidth-intensive applications are emerging, continually using up more bandwidth.
Meanwhile, AT&T, Verizon Wireless and other major operators around the globe are deploying Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, which means LTE could blanket just as many U.S. markets (assuming the operators cut roaming deals) as Clearwire's WiMAX beyond 2010, hurting WiMAX's head start. Moreover, LTE should have better economies of scale given the expected aggressive uptake of the technology. A new study from ABI Research says LTE technology will support more than 32 million subscribers by 2013. That's three years after the technology is expected to become commercially available.
So what has the advantage? Clearwire's spectrum position or the promised dominance of LTE?--Lynnette
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Posted by Jim A | June 23, 2008 - 9:49am
What amazing spin.
It is not the number of Mhz of spectrum the new Clearwire will have in any metro market that matters, it is the limitation of the spectrum itself that will ultimately lead to Clearwire moving off the 2.5Ghz spectrum to a more viable 4G spectrum like AWS 1700Mhz and 2100Mhz spectrum. Fixed PTP 2.5Ghz networks will be and remain a serious profit center for Clearwire.
Ref. AWS: They have partners (MSO) that own a major chunk of the AWS spectrum today and Intel will eventually work with the LTE groups to incoporate a MultiMode Chip/Radio that will work in 700Mhz and AWS.
Clearwire has at most an 18 Month lead on any LTE network, in select Urban Canyons only, but they cannot compete with a Mobile LTE networks using the new 700Mhz (Verizon Wireless)and or a combination of AWS & 700Mhz (AT&T direction) that will provide for true universal (and economical)Broadband Wireless coverage in a Nationwide network.
The laws of physics says that those awful things called Leaves/Foliage will be a real drag on any attempt by Clearwire to deploy a 2.5Ghz based universally viable Urban and Rural Mobile network.
The old Sprint deployed their initial Cell (CDMA) Network exactly the same way, going after major Tier 1 Urban areas and ignoring Rural markets. They now hope, with Clearwire, to do the same thing and eventually provide a superior spectrum based network when LTE comes on board to address universal broadband services.
Will watch this with interest.
Jim
