(This article was originally posted on Broadband Wireless Internet Access / WiMAX News blog, permalink www.bwianews.com/2004/05/focus_special_i.html. The Clearwire Special Issue of FOCUS On Broadband Wireless Internet Access mentioned in this article is now publicly available at stroh.typepad.com/focusonbwia/issues/focus-0013_2004-02_Special_Clearwire_Issue.pdf. I'm proud of the work I did on this issue of FOCUS, and it predated the unveiling of Clearwire by about one month.)
A special issue of FOCUS On Broadband Wireless Internet Access, devoted to an in-depth exploration of the prospects and details behind Clearwire, Craig McCaw's new BWIA venture, went out to subscribers this week. What follows is the opening paragraph of that 20-page issue.
Clearwire – New Craig McCaw Venture Poised To Ignite BWIA Industry In 2004
I’ve
predicted that 2004 would be a watershed year for the Broadband
Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) industry. In 2004 there is a unique
confluence of demand, technology, opportunity, regulatory cooperation
on spectrum issues, and market uncertainty in the face of an impending
technical standard (WiMAX) that many predict will totally commoditize
BWIA. In uncertainty, there is opportunity, and no one understands that
lesson so well as “billionaire wireless entrepreneur” Craig McCaw.
There are a number of disparate pieces to this story that only form a complete picture if you know where to look. In the preparation of this story over the last six weeks, I’ve seen no evidence that anyone else has developed a complete picture of what McCaw is planning. So, in typical FOCUS fashion, I’ll stitch together a number of disparate pieces of the story of McCaw’s new venture, which is called Clearwire, and offer what I consider to be a very compelling story. Clearwire… led by McCaw… is the I’ll know it when I see it development that I believe will launch Broadband Wireless Internet Access from a perennial “niche” method of providing Broadband Internet Access to “mainstream” and quite possibly, dominant method of deploying Broadband Internet Access… If… and it’s a major if… McCaw acts quickly enough, it’s likely that he’ll be able to rout rival companies and Broadband Internet Access technologies who had planned on a far more leisurely adoption/upgrade cycle to Broadband competition than what McCaw has in mind for Clearwire.
More information about subscribing to FOCUS is at www.focusonbwia.com.
Steve Stroh
Copyright (c) 2004, 2007 by Steve Stroh. This article originally appeared on Corante / Broadband Wireless Internet Access.
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