Sprint Nextel Corp will use WiMax technology to build a broadband wireless network in the United States. Sprint will work with Motorola and Samsung according to the announcement (webcast and news release), as well as with chipmaker Intel. The network will be built from 2007 to 2009.

At today’s press conference, Sprint said it will invest $1 billion in 2007 and $1.5-$2 billion, in 2008 (not including investments by its partners). The Sprint Nextel 4G mobility network will use the company’s extensive 2.5GHz spectrum holdings, which cover 85 percent of the households in the top 100 U.S. markets.

As Business Week points out, over the past couple of years, Sprint execs have been experimenting with various broadband wireless technologies, including technology from Flarion, a company now owned by Qualcomm, which uses Frequency Division Duplexing (two channels), optimized for 1.25 Mhz channels.

Gary Forsee, Sprint’s CEO, said their Mobile WiMax network would provide downloads between 2-4 Mbps and uploads of 1Mbps or more. Barry West (right), CTO for Sprint Nextel and president of their new 4G Mobile Broadband division, said Sprint also considered IP Wireless which uses unpaired or paired UMTS spectrum. IP Wireless also integrates TDtv, a multicast media service that could be used for Mobile TV.

Standards-based Mobile WiMax (pdf) won out over the proprietary Flarion system and the CDMA-based IPWireless approach. MobiTV, Sprint’s favored television provider, also announced its support for WiMAX today, citing support for the Unicast and Multi-cast models integrated in the WiMAX standard.

Sprint execs say a WiMax network will take years to build, so nationwide coverage won’t be available until at least 2008. By then Mobile WiMAX may be a viable option for a good portion of the country, with Clearwire and Sprint the major providers.

“This is a watershed moment for the WiMAX Forum and the fast-growing WiMAX ecosystem,” said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum. “Sprint Nextel has had a strong commitment to advancing the WiMAX market, and this is evident by its selection of mobile WiMAX as its 4G next-generation network for its 2.5GHz spectrum throughout the U.S.”

“The significance of this is it puts WiMax on a firm footing,” said Paul Sergeant, director of WiMax marketing for Motorola. “In the same way that Sprint’s selection of CDMA in 1996 made that a viable technology.”

“The Internet has gone airborne”, as a Sprint representive put it during the press conference. Roaming between Clearwire and Sprint may be achieved since both broadband wireless carriers will be using the same standard in the 2.5 GHz band. Standardizing on Mobile WiMAX should also reduce costs with increased competition and volume.

Clearwire secured $900M in financing led by Intel Capital and announced the sale of NextNet Wireless to Motorola last month. Under the transaction, Intel Capital, which earlier invested in the company, put $600 million more into Clearwire. That’s the single biggest investment for Intel Capital, ever. Intel and Motorola said the moves were part of an effort to expand the availability of WiMAX.

Mobile WiMAX devices are expected to be low-cost because of the economies of IP-based architecture. In 2-3 years, notebooks, PDAs, ultra-mobile PCs, game consoles, MP3 players, smartphones as well as CCTV cameras and in-vehicle devices will get WiMAXed, say analysts.

Currently, most consumers only have two choices for broadband service, cable modem or DSL. Now a third (or forth) competitor may appear in the next few years.

Satellite provider DirecTV may also offer its own brand of broadband wireless service — by subleasing channels from Sprint or ClearWire.

Others are not convinced that WiMAX offers a compelling alternative to DSL/Cable or cellular.

“There’s just no infrastructure supporting WiMAX today,” said Craig Mathias, an analyst with The Farpoint Group. Joseph Laszlo of Jupiter Research is also less than totally enthusiastic:

“I’m a little annoyed by Sprint’s attempt to brand all this “4G.” I have never liked the “Gs,” except maybe as a pure industry insider term of art. Even if the term was acceptable and agreed on, it’s hard to see WiMAX being legitimately “4G.” The WiMAX network isn’t an evolution of existing mobile wireless voice infrastructure, as was the case with 2G-3G. It’s something different, a parallel network that won’t replace an EV-DO network as much as complement it.

Whatever the impact of Mobile WiMAX, consumers are likely to benefit from the competition.

In addition to cable modems ($50/month) or DSL ($40/month), consumers may be able to choose Sprint or Clearwire wireless broadband ($30-$40/month), a tv/broadband package from DirecTV or EchoStar ($60/month and up), public WiFi access from community networks or commercial providers (free to $20/month), as well as high speed cellular service ($59/month) from Sprint and Verizon (EV-DO Rev. A) and Cingular (HSDPA).

The big AWS auction starts tomorrow and may add additional competition (and some $15B for the U.S. treasury). The new AWS band (1.7/2.1 GHz) will provide additional breathing room for 3G cellular providers like T-Mobile and Cingular. AWS phones, using duplex channels, will now have to compete with Mobile WiMAX phones that can use simplex for voice and data and more cost/effective IP technology.

A toast to Roger Marks and Craig McCaw. Cable’s free ride is over. Sprint has jumped to “4G”.

This could be big. Cellular all over again. Broadband everywhere.

Related DailyWireless articles include; DirecTV/Clearwire Close?, BellSouth Expands WiMAX, Clearwire’s $900M Payday, Mobile WiMAX: The Attack Plan, Mobile WiMAX: It Begins, It’s Sprint or Nothing, The WiMax Procession, Clearwire Does Voice, Clearwire Likes E, Intel Inside Clearwire, Cable/Sprint Pole Dance, Navini Claims Beamforming WiMAX and IEEE Suspends 802.20 Deliberations.

Posted by Sam Churchill on Monday, August 7th, 2006 at 4:12 pm.