C/Net wonders if WiMax can make it in the U.S. while Om Malik spreads rumors about Google buying Sprint, then spinning out their phone business.
Ludicrous? Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t have first-hand knowledge as to whether or not this rumor is even remotely true, but there is one way it could all make sense.
Sprint spins out its WiMAX business. Let’s call it — for lack of a better name — 3rdPipeDream Inc. Sprint owns a big chunk of equity of this company, mostly because it owns a lot of spectrum and has built out some parts of the network. 3rdPipe then invites titans of Silicon Valley to invest. Since it is going to cost Sprint around $5 billion to build out its WiMAX network, it is safe to assume that 3rdPipeDream is going to need more than $5 billion.
Google, Intel, Cisco, Apple and a whole slew of Silicon Valley companies that need the “third broadband pipe” could team up and invest in the new company – but on a premise that 3rdPipeDream will operate as a wholesale wireless broadband network, following the rules similar to the ones proposed by Google for the 700 MHz auction.
Is Sprint backing out of WiMAX? I hardly think so.
- Sprint picked up WiMAX spectrum for a song.
- WiMAX delivers more bits per buck then 3G.
- WiMAX is 3-5 years ahead of 4G, and upwardly compatible with the 100 Mbps speeds of 4G, giving Sprint a significant advantage over AT&T and Verizon.
Why should they bail? Clearwire might have been made a better offer.
DailyWireless has learned that Google has joined the WiMax forum. If Google partnered with Clearwire, why shouldn’t they offer a triple play with the G-Phone.
That would cool the Sprint/Clearwire partnership — don’t you think.
Related Dailywireless stories include; A triple play with the G-Phone?, UK: Free For All, BSkyB: Free Broadband, Murdoch to Offer Free Broadband?, Winner of the Triple Play, Google TV?, Satellite/WiMax Triple Play?, Talkin’ Moxi, The Quadruple Play, IPTV: Is It Soup Yet?, BBC Adds VOD, and The Free Triple Play.
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