Clearwire, having recently teamed up with Sprint to provide WiMAX service across the nation. The two companies completed the merging of their WiMAX assets this year, creating the single-largest spectrum portfolio in the US. As the champions of WiMAX in the US, Sprint and Clearwire have come under increasing pressure to bring 4G mobile broadband service to the masses, what with 4G LTE networks from other major wireless carriers expected to come online within a couple years. In that light, will Clearwire’s push to expand their WiMAX-based “Clear” network to major US markets in 2009 be enough to fend off LTE’s impending challenge?
Clearwire is expecting to go live with Clear service in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Chicago, Charlotte, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Honolulu, Philadelphia, and Seattle in 2009. In 2010, Clearwire expects to go “Clear” in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Houston and the San Francisco Bay Area, just to name a few. In total, the WiMAX provider is looking to cover 120 million people across 80 markets through 2010.
WiMAX has the potential to give Sprint and Clearwire the first-to-market advantage in providing true high-speed mobile broadband service to customers. But, with Verizon and MetroPCS both expecting to flip the LTE-switch in 2010, Sprint’s going to have some heavy competition for mobile broadband customers. Still, Verizon and MetroPCS will have to wait for their LTE network sto launch before they become a significant threat to Sprint’s 4G network. But AT&T has plans to enable HSPA+ data speeds that will overlap with Sprint’s mobile broadband offering. So, it seems AT&T may be the more immediate threat to Sprint and Clearwire’s success.
Sprint and Clearwire’s expansion markets for 2009 are presumably the key markets that the duo thinks it needs to penetrate and capture early-adopters. It’s crucial that Sprint and Clearwire perform well in early markets, because it’s those markets that are going to help spread the word about WiMAX. By the time LTE networks from other major carriers are close to going live, Sprint is looking to have a nationwide (albeit, spotty) 4G mobile broadband network up and running – combination 3G/4G data modems should help smooth out the coverage gaps in the burgeoning WiMAX network. Sprint’s head-start on infrastructure roll-outs may prove to be just enough of an edge to give Sprint the subscriber foundation to grow as the premier data-centric network provider in the US.
Will Sprint and Clearwire manage to provide enough value for early-adopter mobile broadband customers to secure its future as a data-centric network provider? Time will tell. Interestingly, Sprint is reportedly considering their LTE options, perhaps as a hedge against WiMAX’s less than stellar success.