Now that Sprint Nextel Corp. has committed to WiMAX technology, it’s time to wonder if other carriers will follow suit. No doubt, carriers make next-generation investment decisions based largely on how they think they can best leverage their existing assets to rake in future revenues.
And so Sprint Nextel’s decision to run with WiMAX technology makes sense, since the carrier holds most of the nation’s spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band, which is one of the wide swaths of RF spectrum that applies to 802.16, otherwise known as WiMAX. In other countries, WiMAX will likely be used in 3.5 GHz, 2.3/2.5 GHz or 5 GHz bands, with the 2.3/2.5 GHz being used in Asia. In the United States, AT&T Inc. will hold considerable 2.3 GHz spectrum through its pending acquisition of BellSouth Corp., but the carrier also has existing assets that utilize the GSM path to third- and fourth-generation technologies.
Even as the U.S. wireless landscape shrunk in recent years through consolidation, it is expanding again with new spectrum auctions, unconventional new wireless entrants and mobile virtual network operators, noted Nokia Corp.’s Mark Louison, senior vice president, networks, North America. And these players have a variety of technology choices from which to select. “There’s clearly a challenge there because you can’t get to scale and volume with too many technologies.”
Results of the Federal Communications Commission’s advanced wireless spectrum auction-which is still going on-are already shaping the WiMAX playing field. Researchers at ABI reported that the Wireless DBS consortium, which includes EchoStar, DirecTV, News Corp., Rupert Murdoch and Charles Ergen qualified as a bidder and submitted high bids, yet the group was ultimately unsuccessful and decided to throw in the towel. As they leave the auction empty-handed, with no spectrum of their own, ABI predicts that satellite operators will have to settle for partnerships with WiMAX operators if they want to launch their own mobile services.
“The DBS operators are looking at how they can utilize wireless spectrum for two-way data services as well as mobile voice services,” says Michael Arden, principal analyst at ABI. “The development of a mobile service connected to satellite-video service would be one more piece of a service bundle that would help to reduce customer churn and to create an opportunity for convergence of services-such as broadcast and mobile video. It looked as though they were well-positioned to become big players directly. However, given their lack of bidding success, they are going to have to rely on partnerships in provisioning mobile services.”
The firm named Clearwire Corp. as the most likely partner choice for the satellite players and said such a move would strengthen Clearwire’s position as a formidable WiMAX service provider competitor to Sprint Nextel and its gaggle of cable operator alignments.
But it’s not entirely clear whether those looking to deliver video and data will even need WiMAX. After all, by the time WiMAX networks are up and running, Qualcomm Inc. says it will have already launched its MediaFLO network with Verizon Wireless. And HSPA networks should also be available around the same time, along with CDMA2000 1x Rev. A and possibly Rev. B.
Delving into the throughput speeds each technology promises to deliver, it’s clear that those shopping around for ways to deliver content have choices. And the testing gurus at Spirent have confirmed that while the actual network speeds experienced by subscribers are typically somewhat lower than the “optimal” speeds technology-backers brag about, sometimes the actual speeds are even higher.
In addition, Nigel Wright, vice president of Client Services at Spirent, points out that “actual speeds are only part of the story. Increasingly, operators are interested in what we have termed `good-put,’ which measures how much good data gets to end users. As there’s a lot of re-transmission, the actual speed you see on the link is useful information, but it’s just one part of the overall picture. Operators are interested in the relationship between the speed on the link and the data getting to the handset.”
Having said that, Wright divulged that Spirent is seeing higher-than promised speeds as testing marches on. He said results for WiMAX and Rev. A devices aren’t available yet, as products are not currently available for testing.
