Sprint Corp.’s pending acquisition of Nextel Communications Inc. will endow the new operation with a substantial war chest of network and spectrum assets, including a significant swatch of spectrum in the 2.5 GHz spectrum band covering 80 percent of the country’s population.
While both companies have hinted at using the 2.5 GHz band to launch advanced “wireless interactive multimedia services,” the $64,000 question that remains for the industry-and more importantly infrastructure providers-is what technology will Sprint use to support those services?
Two potential answers came last week as Nextel said it plans to trial a wireless broadband network using IPWireless Inc.’s UMTS TD-CDMA technology during the third quarter in the Washington, D.C., area. The announcement was followed by Sprint signing a deal with Motorola Inc. to begin testing pre-WiMAX technology in its 2.5 GHz holdings.
Nextel said its trial will cover portions of the nation’s capital; Arlington, Alexandria and its home base of Reston, Va.; and Bethesda, Md. The carrier added that the trial will test a range of subscriber services, including broadband access for laptops, desktops and personal digital assistants and backhaul for enterprise campuses.
Nextel also said it plans to test wireless interactive multimedia services, including video streaming, online gaming, document collaboration and video conferencing.
“The upcoming trial in the Washington, D.C., area is an example of our commitment to evaluate the best available broadband options in order to ultimately deliver cutting-edge services for our customers,” said Nextel Chief Technology Officer Barry West. “Nextel has conducted lab testing of the IPWireless technology, and this trial will allow us to test the performance and economics offered by the TD-CDMA technology in our 2.5 GHz spectrum.”
IPWireless noted the trial will use a 10-megahertz spectrum channel with average throughput of 1.5 megabits per second on the downlink and 500 kilobits per second on the uplink. Nextel said the trial will run for a minimum of six months and will be available only to select Nextel customers and not offered commercially to the public, at least initially.
Nextel launched a similar network trial in early 2004 using Flarion Technologies’ Flash-OFDM technology and leased 1.9 GHz spectrum in the Raleigh, N.C., area. That trial, which was scheduled to wrap up June 30, included about 150 cell sites and initially was limited to Nextel partners in the area before expanding to more than 3,000 customers.
A Nextel spokesman said the carrier received positive responses to the Flarion trial, with 90 percent of users saying they were pleased with the performance.
Nextel’s decision to test nontraditional wireless technologies garnered a few raised eyebrows during the IPWireless announcement at a Wireless Communications Association International event last week. Many wondered why the carrier appeared more interested in nontraditional technologies instead of the current media-darling WiMAX technology-which has yet to gain standardization through the IEEE.
“We are on a path of discovery,” explained Atish Gude, vice president of strategic planning for Nextel. “By no means are we deciding [on a broadband wireless technology]. This is another form of a trial.”
Analysts previously questioned Nextel’s Flarion trial, noting the carrier could put itself at a competitive disadvantage by using a proprietary technology similar to its current Motorola Inc.-developed iDEN network.
“We are not trying to push any technology. … We do believe in scale. We do believe in standards,” Gude added.
In Nextel’s defense, IPWireless’ TD-CDMA technology is a Third Generation Partnership Project-approved standard similar to other next-generation technologies and has several commercial deployments around the world. Flarion also has announced several domestic network trials and deployments during the past year and won a major deal last month when a Finnish operator was awarded a contract to deploy a Flash-OFDM-based 450 MHz wireless broadband network across Finland.
While Nextel has yet to officially announce any WiMAX plans, Sprint’s agreement last week with Motorola to conduct joint wireless broadband technology testing and equipment trials using Motorola’s 802.16e pre-WiMAX technology should placate WiMAX supporters.
The two companies said the collaboration will spur the development of WiMAX technology, validate vendor solutions and help formulate network architecture strategies. The collaboration will include lab testing of base-station equipment, smart-antenna technology, and multimedia handsets and field trials in certain locations beginning this year and extending into 2006.
“Sprint is fostering a number of strategic partnerships and investigating multiple technologies in support of future wireless interactive multimedia services,” said Oliver Valente, Sprint CTO and vice president of technology development. “WiMAX is one of the technologies Sprint is investigating for services which would be considered for deployment in the 2.5 GHz band of spectrum.”
Several companies, including Craig McCaw’s Clearwire Corp., AT&T Corp. and BellSouth Corp., have recently deployed or announced plans to deploy pre-WiMAX networks in select markets.
Motorola noted the trial shows Sprint is interested in more than just deploying another wireless data network and instead is looking at deploying technology that customers will be able to see is different.
“Sprint is not just looking to put more data out there,” explained Daniel Coombes, senior vice president of wireless broadband and CTO for Motorola’s networks business. “They want to deploy something that will prove useful to customers.”
Sprint previously signed a related agreement with Intel Corp. to develop WiMAX chipsets, devices, equipment and infrastructure. Sprint also joined the WiMAX Forum earlier this year.
Sprint has said it plans to deploy advanced CDMA-based services in its 1.9 GHz spectrum bands, which will be bolstered by Nextel’s recently approved spectrum reallocation plan. That plan calls for the carrier to exchange some of its 800 MHz spectrum holdings and $4.8 billion in retuning costs for 10 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band.
