WiMAX

Sprint/Clearwire to AT&T: public in favor of JV

Sue Marek — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:44:58 -0400

Sprint and Clearwire wasted no time responding to AT&T's request to deny the planned joint venture between the two companies. Last week, AT&T said that the Sprint/Clearwire venture would eventually use spectrum leased from schools, cities and non-profits and that the planned venture hadn't fully accounted for that spectrum in its proposed merger. AT&T said that when it purchased Dobson Communications last year the FCC took into account all the spectrum that AT&T hadn't accessed yet.

In its response, Sprint and Clearwire said that nearly 100 parties including educational and religious institutions, have filed comments urging the FCC to approve this transaction. The companies said that this proves that the public interest weighs in favor of this merger. In addition, because the 2.5 MHz spectrum has historically been under-utilized, many commentators are in favor of using this spectrum. They believe that the merger will lower costs for consumers by providing new products and services based upon WiMAX.

Sprint and Clearwire also said that they thought it was ironic that AT&T, the largest telecom company in the world, wants to invoke in applicable regulatory restraints that would stifle and delay Clearwire.

For more:
- see this Sprint/Clearwire FCC filing

Related articles:
AT&T asks FCC to deny Sprint-Clearwire merger
Sprint affiliate battles Clearwire JV

Report: 2.1B wireless broadband customers by 2015

Sue Marek — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:02:05 -0400

U.K.-based research firm Analysys Mason estimates there will be 2.1 billion wireless broadband customers generating $784 billion in revenue by 2015. Analysys also says although WiMAX and LTE will be available, HSPA and HSPA+ will support at least 54 percent of all wireless broadband customers in 2015.

The firm says because HSPA and HSPA+ are the natural evolution path for GSM operators using W-CDMA, the number of HSPA and HSPA+ customers will increase from 61 million at the end of 2008 to 1.1 billion at the end of 2015. Meanwhile, Analysys says LTE will take off slowly but its customer base will reach 440 million by 2015, accounting for an estimated $194 billion in revenue.

Analysys isn't as bullish on WiMAX. The firm says it will fail to achieve a significant share of the development wireless broadband market, contributing only 2 percent of global revenue. In addition, the firm says by 2015 there will be 20 times as many customers using cellular broadband services as are using WiMAX.

For more:
- see this release

Related articles:
AT&T: HSPA will provide 20 Mbps data speeds
Mobile industry pushes LTE

Georgia city contracts with Clearwire for WiMAX

Lynnette Luna — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:07:36 -0400

The Milledgeville, Ga., city council has voted to contract with Clearwire for a muni-WiMAX network as an outgrowth of Clearwire's efforts to build WiMAX in nearby Atlanta. In 2006, Milledgeville received an $862,000 grant from the Georgia Technology Authority through the Wireless Communities Georgia program to turn the city into one of several model communities to show the benefits of using wireless access to improve economic development, educational access and governmental services.

The service will be a subscription-based model with many varying pricing plans for the city's constituents. Users will also be able to access the service in any Clearwire market outside of Milledgeville. In 2006, Clearwire contracted with Grand Rapids, Mich., for a similar muni-WiMAX network. While we haven't seen the muni-WiMAX trend take off, Clearwire could certainly use some anchor tenants such as cities like these to offer a solid revenue stream early on.

For more:
- check out the Union-Recorder

Related stories:
Clearwire building muni-WiMAX network in Michigan. Clearwire story
What is Grand Rapids up to? Grand Rapids story

Sprint sells off towers to pay down debt

Lynnette Luna — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:28:41 -0400

Sprint Nextel has agreed to sell almost all of its towers to private tower company TowerCo for about $670 million in cash. The number of towers sold is expected to be around 3,300, leaving Sprint with a handful of towers to own and manage. While competitors have largely sold off their towers to large firms such as American Tower and Crown Castle, Sprint has always managed its own via a separate group.

Sprint now plans to lease the towers it sells to TowerCo for its cellular network as well as the WiMAX network it is helping to build. Sprint is expected to use the proceeds to pay down some of its $24 billion in debt, and the Wall Street Journal reports that it is considering a sale of even bigger assets, such as the Nextel iDEN network. Citing sources close to Sprint, the Journal says the operator has begun investigating to see where there would be any interested buyers. But it hasn't decided definitively whether to move forward with that plan.

For more:
- check out the WSJ (sub. req.)

Related articles:
Sprint's troubles inspire rumor mill. Sprint story
Sprint loses $31B reputation? Sprint story

Clearwire's stock in the pits

Lynnette Luna — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:57:34 -0400

Clearwire's stock hit a 52-week low on the Nasdaq Tuesday, dropping as low as $8.98 a share. The operator, which is planning to merge with Sprint Nextel's WiMAX business with the help of billions from investment partners Intel, Google and cable operators Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House, has seen its shares fall steadily since early June. But the stock fell below $10 at the end of last week. The shares remain in the pits despite recent upgrades from the likes of RBC Capital markets, which initiated coverage with an "outperform" rating and a target price of $17. Citigroup also recently upgraded the operator's target price to $13 a share.

For more:
- see Unstrung

Related stories:
Introducing the "new" Clearwire. Clearwire story
New Sprint-Clearwire deal a shot in the arm for mobile WiMAX. Sprint-Clearwire editorial

Backhaul vendor Ceragon posts jump in revenues, net income

Lynnette Luna — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:30:40 -0400

Backhaul vendor Ceragon Networks reported a 48 percent jump in revenues and a 50 percent increase in net income for the second quarter, a sign that the demand for improved backhaul in the midst of higher data consumption and the construction of higher speed data networks such as HSPA and Mobile WiMAX is there. Ceragon, which markets TDM-based and Ethernet microwave backhaul systems to cellular and WiMAX operators, said revenues came in at $55.2 million, which was 47.9 percent better than the previous year. Analysts had expected sales of $49.5 million.

Ceragon said growth was particularly strong in the Asia-Pacific region and through its OEM partners. For instance, sales through Nokia Siemens Networks accounted for more than 10 percent of its revenues in the second quarter.

For more:
- read Unstrung

Related stories:
Research: Ethernet-based mobile backhaul lags. Ethernet backhaul story
T-Mobile boosts backhaul to handle HSDPA. Backhaul story

Sue Spradley - Top Women in Wireless

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:08:18 -0400

Sue Spradley

Head of North America at Nokia Siemens

Although she's a relative newcomer to this position (she's been on the job just about a year), Sue Spradley is already making waves. Neither Nokia nor Siemens separately had been very successful as vendors in the U.S. market but the newly combined company along with Spradley's leadership is rapidly making inroads. Nokia Siemens is involved in the buildout of T-Mobile USA's 3G network and is also working on Sprint Nextel's Xohm WiMAX deployment.

Spradley is a straight-shooter who clearly is comfortable talking tech. She is a 20-year telecom industry veteran and the former president of Nortel global services and operations.

Metric: Mobile capex will reach $163.5B in 2013

Sue Marek — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:17:25 -0400

Although North America's mobile capital expenditures will likely remain flat this year, globally CAPEX investment will rise from more than $113 billion in 2007 to $163.5 billion in 2013, according to ABI Research. In the Asia-Pacific region, that growth will primarily be driven by markets that are expanding current 2G footprints and new 3G rollouts. In North America, look for carriers to be spending on 3G upgrades to HSDPA/HSPA and EVDO Rev. A, as well as activities around mobile WiMAX.

ABI researchers say that currently most of the CAPEX is still going to voice services and 2G networks expansion. However that will change. "CAPEX for data services will surpass that for voice sometime in 2009 as 4G starts to arrive," says Hwai Lin Khor, analyst with ABI. By 2013, the firm expects 28 percent of CAPEX spending to be for voice, 67 percent for data and 5 percent for mobile TV.

For more:
- see this release

Related story:
Carrier capex hits $225 billion

Research firm blasts mobile WiMAX

Sue Marek — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:15:18 -0400

Research firm Frost & Sullivan says that unless spectrum auctions and commercial mobile WiMAX rollouts (compliant to Wave 2 Phase 2 certification) gather momentum before the end of this year, the market for the broadband wireless technology will be insignificant. However, the firm also says that the work carried out on mobile WiMAX has the potential to spur new ventures, which could potentially lead to the merger of mobile WiMAX with 3G LTE. Article

Comcast will use WiMAX Femtocells

Sue Marek — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:47:11 -0400

At a conference in London, Comcast's senior vice president of wireless and technology Dave Williams revealed that part of the cable company's deal with Clearwire calls for 5 MHz of spectrum across the U.S. to be set aside solely for WiMAX femtocells. Williams said that Comcast would have liked to have more spectrum for femtocells but that this was the best deal it could negotiate.

The femtocell spectrum will be available for any of the new Clearwire partners to use, but Williams said that the cable companies will have the most incentive to use it because it allows them to cost-effectively deliver wireless to the home.

Cable companies Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks were part of the consortium (which includes Google and Intel) that invested $3.2 billion in the new Clearwire. The cable companies plan to wholesale WiMAX services via Clearwire to their customers.

For more:
- See this Light Reading story

Related stories:
Seybold: The New Clearwire--Will it succeed?
Introducing the 'new' Clearwire
Clearwire expects 30 million subs by 2017