The WiMax
joint venture between Sprint and Clearwire could be good news for end-users,
who might soon be able to choose from a variety of new and competing broadband
services.

The deal, announced Wednesday, includes investments totaling US$3.2 billion
from Intel, Google,
Time Warner Cable,
Comcast and Bright
House Networks. Each of the investor companies will be able to offer a self-branded
service to customers.

In addition, end-users will be able to buy services from Clearwire, although
branding for that service hasn't been determined, according to Barry West, who
is chief technology officer for 4G services at Sprint and will be president
of the new Clearwire. Sprint's brand for WiMax, Xohm, may still be used, he
said. The venture will be called Clearwire because it's really a relaunch of
the existing company and was easier to accomplish than launching a totally new
entity, West said.

It remains to be seen whether the various partners will sell very different
services under their individual brands, but the potential to do so is there.

The technology behind WiMax will allow the partners to offer different tiers
of service, said Monica Paolini, the founder of Senza Fili Consulting. For example,
a business person could subscribe to a top-tier plan that offers very reliable
e-mail access. But a high-school student more interested in a low-cost plan
might be happy to sign up for a service that is sometimes slow because the network
will give higher priority to higher-paying customers.

"I think there's a lot of room for differentiation," she said, although
she cautioned that we'll have to wait and see if the partners take advantage
of the potential.

In addition, the fact that the new Clearwire will be separate from Sprint could
allow it the freedom to develop innovative services, West said. "It's kind
of nice that the new company will have some ... independence from Sprint, so
we can create the new rules for the business model," West said. Exact details
haven't been worked out, but it will be a far different business from cellular,
he said. For example, there won't be any post-paid plans. In addition, Clearwire
will reach most customers through devices they buy at retail with no significant
price subsidy, he said.

The new Clearwire also plans to support innovation by releasing APIs (application
programming interfaces) that allow any service, such as Skype, to run on the
network, West said. The company will charge third-party service providers for
access to an API that lets them set up their service to get priority over others,
West

• Email
• Print
• Share
  • Slashdot
  • Digg
  • Stumble
  • Reddit
  • Newsvine