Clearwire, Sprint Talking Roaming Agreement
Clearwire and Sprint Nextel are aligning WiMAX network architecture and are close to a roaming agreement, Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff told analysts at an investor day in Portland, Ore. The companies called off a partnership last November (CD Nov 13 p6), but talks continued, progressing greatly the past 60 days, Wolff said. Sprint and Clearwire networks will share features, functionality and performance expectations, smoothing the way for roaming, Wolff said. Sprint and Clearwire are jointly testing WiMAX device interoperability and sharing data collected from network trials, he said. The cooperation means the companies are “moving the ball faster than either of us would do on our own,” Wolff said.
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To prove Sprint-Clearwire collaboration was alive, Wolff made a VoIP call to Sprint Chief Technology Officer Barry West using the companies’ WiMAX test networks in Portland and Washington, D.C. West told Clearwire investors that Sprint’s soft launch networks are providing 3 to 5 Mbps downstream and 1 to 2 Mbps up. Sprint is halfway through interoperability testing with WiMAX device partners, he said, and WiMAX chipsets will be ready for Sprint’s planned commercial launch Q2.
Wolff declined to comment on Wall Street Journal and Washington Post reports that Clearwire and Sprint are discussing a joint venture.
WiMAX will have strong support from manufacturers, Wolff said. Hardware makers won’t support a network technology unless they see a strong commitment by operators, he said. Sprint, Clearwire and international players are committed, he said. “If you talk to all these industry players, everyone’s got a pretty good feeling that this thing’s catching fire and taking off.”
WiMAX rival LTE could be further away than its supporters say, Wolff said. Clearwire sees a three-year gap between the network technologies, but it could be longer, “especially considering LTE doesn’t exist today,” he said.
Wolff likes Clearwire’s 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings, he said. “Our spectrum is worth considerably more than” Aloha and FCC-auctioned 700 MHz spectrum, as well as auctioned AWS and rural PCS spectrum, he said. That’s because the band is technology agnostic, uses wide channels and has “ample” spectrum depth, he said. Auctioned 700 MHz spectrum has “capacity density requirements” that make it less attractive, said John Saw, chief technology officer. No bidder is likely to get more than 22 MHz, he said, meaning winners will have good network coverage but little capacity, he said.