Sprint Commits to WiMAX for 4G Cellular Technology
Carlo of Mobhappy caught an article that Sprint is committing to use WiMAX for its 4G next generation broadband network. It is currently skipping the 3G CDMA2000 phase and passed off Qualcomm’s OFDMA technology. So the folks at Sprint are trying out something new again.
Here is a snippet from the original MSN/Reuters article:
Sprint Nextel Corp on Tuesday said it will spend up to $3 billion over two years to build a high-speed wireless data network using WiMax technology in a bid to capture new growth from emerging mobile services.
Sprint will work with Motorola , Samsung Electronics and Intel Corp. to develop the network that can cover whole cities and facilitate everything from video downloads to Internet surfing.
The interesting thing is that Sprint plans to roll-out the service by 2007 with an estimated average throughput of about 2-4 Mbps. Now we know what Sprint plans to do with all that 2.5GHz frequency licenses across the United States. However, the main benefit of this technology is not the availability of more bandwidth. GSMA HSPA also promise those throughputs. The interesting this is that Sprint says that this is in line with its desire to use open standards technology such as WiMAX (also known as the IEEE 802.16 standard). The next question is: Will Sprint take it a step further and finally use only IP-based core network components (aka. IMS-style IP-based systems) for its entire mobile network? This is a pretty exciting announcement and is a big litmus test on next generation mobile. Will players like Sprint serious move to the more pervasive and open IP technology? Will this spell the end of Qualcomm controlled technology? Before we get excited it would also be good to note the Sprint has also announced that it is upgrading its existing EV-DO network. So will WiMAX just be for mobile data?
Let us also remember that Sprint bought out a company called Nextel that was also a big fan on non-conventional mobile network technology. Nextel used a trunk radio technology called iDEN. Of course, as the story goes, the technology was good and it filled a market need. They did well for a while but couldn’t really keep up with the GSM world.
