RCR Wireless reports that Sprint Nextel and its WiMAX infrastructure vendors will demonstrate devices and applications using the technology, along with mobile TV, during the Consumer Electronics Show next week.
According to a company statement, the demonstrations will include “true mobile WiMAX TV, blending multicast and unicast distribution on Sprint’s upcoming 4G network.” Sprint Nextel said it is working with MobiTV, which powers a variety of Sprint Nextel’s current TV offerings, for the demonstration.
The service will be transmitted to the booths of Sprint Nextel’s WiMAX partners Intel, Samsung and Motorola at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Nokia will also supply WiMAX products for Sprint’s upcoming US roll-out.
Sprint cellular currently uses MobiTV and announced a partnership for WiMAX when they made their big WiMAX announcement last August. Perhaps a “broadcast” mobile television technology such as Qualcomm’s MediaFLO, Crown’s Modeo or Aloha Partners’ HiWire could also be demonstrated. Modeo plans to announce its service is live in New York city this Monday, although both Sprint and Verizon have committed to MediaFLO.
Besides the mobile TV demo, the companies also indicated that they will host demos of video conferencing, video-on-demand and personal mobile content via WiMAX over various devices using the 2.3/2.5GHz spectrum.
Sprint is pitting its two initial vendors against one another in its initial market deployment this year. Motorola WiMAX gear will be used to build Sprint’s Mobile WiMAX network in Chicago while Samsung gear will be used in Washington D.C.
Nokia will also be a major supplier to Sprint for WiMAX network infrastructure gear including the Nokia Flexi WiMAX base transceiver stations and WiMAX-enabled mobile devices including multimedia computers and Internet tablets. The Nokia Flexi WiMAX Base Station will be available for the 2.5 GHz band at the end of 2007 and for 3.5 GHz in early 2008.
Sprint Nextel domininates the 2.5GHz band owning some 85 percent of the band in the 100 top markets in the U.S.
Sprint has committed 800 million this year and up to $2 billion next year to its WiMAX buildout. Kirkland-based Clearwire has already started to roll out a fixed, proprietary version of WiMax. To date, it has launched in about 34 markets and covers about 8.6 million people.
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[...] Meanwhile, Sprint has committed $800 million this year and up to $2 billion next year to build out its WiMAX network, starting with Chicago and Washington DC. Kirkland-based Clearwire has already started to roll out a fixed, proprietary version of WiMax. To date, it has launched in about 34 markets and covers about 8.6 million people. [...]
Left by dailywireless.org » State-wide Wireless Broadband Access on January 6th, 2007