At CTIA, Sprint Nextel announced further progress with the development of its upcoming Mobile WiMAX advanced multimedia network.
In addition to previously announced WiMAX U.S. service areas (Chicago, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio), the carrier also named new service markets – Detroit, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Boston, Philadelphia, Providence, Denver, Portland, Salt Lake City and Seattle.
In terms of the hardware, Sprint has chosen Samsung for PC cards available in both single WiMAX mode and dual CDMA 1xEV DO/WiMAX mode for WiMAX service launch use. Additionally, Sprint has selected ZTE Corporation to supply multiple WiMAX 802.16e devices including PC cards in express and USB form factors as well as advanced modem solutions; and ZyXEL Communications Inc. for modem products.
The Sprint Nextel’s U.S. WiMAX network will be built by Motorola, Samsung and Nokia, and the company plans initial service launches in several markets by yearend 2007. The commercial service availability is expected in a number of markets by April 2008, ultimately reaching 100 million people across the country by yearend 2008.