It's Wednesday, December 5, 2007, and welcome back to Good Day, BWIA, a light compendium of news, items of interest, irreverent commentary, and occasional light analysis relating to Broadband Wireless Internet Access (including WiMAX, public access Wi-Fi, etc.).
Sprint Nextel XOHM to soft-launch within a few days Engadget is reporting that Sprint Nextel's XOHM Mobile WiMAX service will begin operation within the next few days in Baltimore, Chicago, and Washington DC. As is usual in soft-launches, there's no information or confirmation through official channels, especially the XOHM web site. Interesting corollary... (legacy) Sprint's older proprietary, fixed Broadband Wireless Internet Access service - Sprint Broadband Direct, is now accepting new customers again. I reminisce a bit about Sprint Broadband Direct and its equipment vendor, Hybrid Networks, Inc. in an article on my BWIA Deadpool site.
Today's Clearwire Modem Weather Report - Hollywood Hill, Woodinville, Washington - Alternating 2 to 4 Bars; cold and damp, but no rain. I rarely see it vary that much.
Verizon Wireless announces intent to "muck things up" in the upcoming 700 MHz auctions I was told by an industry source that Verizon Wireless has quietly transmitted its intent to participate in FCC Auction 73 - the 700 MHz band. I couldn't find confirmation of this searching through the FCC's byzantine web site. Thinking it through pretty thoroughly, I can't imagine a scenario where Verizon Wireless would actually use 700 MHz spectrum if it did get it. Verizon Wireless is apparently maniacally focused on upgrading its network to 1xEV-DO Rev. A capability. Although that upgrade does provide better Broadband Internet Access (than non Rev. A), it also markedly improves voice capacity. But here are two kickers that indicate to me that Verizon Wireless doesn't need, and can't really intend to use 700 MHz spectrum: 1) There's no "official" telephony industry standards for wireless telephony operating on 700 MHz. It's certainly possible to do so, and it's certain that wireless telephony industry standards will be extended to 700 MHz, but right now... none. That means Verizon Wireless can't make use of 700 MHz, if it got it, likely for years. 2) Verizon Wireless has ample 800 MHz spectrum as a result of acquiring many legacy wireless telephony carriers and conversion of 800 MHz "analog" wireless telephony band to digital technology (in Verizon Wireless' case, CDMA). So Verizon Wireless doesn't gain much from the vaunted "penetrate buildings" / "long range" (vastly overhyped, in my opinion) capabilities of 700 MHz - it already can do that with its 800 MHz spectrum which is well-standardized and well-supported by vendors. The only scenario that makes sense to me for Verizon Wireless to be participating in the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auctions is that it wants to play the spoiler, especially against Google. If Verizon Wireless does win the bidding, I predict they'll just "warehouse" the spectrum. If they don't actually win it, they'll have cost Google some significant money.
Satellite spectrum for terrestrial use - Craig McCaw's other hobby I saw a report today that ICO Global Communications, chaired by Craig McCaw, is formally requesting FCC permission for "Ancillary Terrestial Network"; essentially using spectrum normally reserved for satellite communications on terrestrial base stations. The basic idea is to "fill in" gaps in satellite coverage with terrestrial base stations, such as in urban areas (XM and Sirius do this for their satellite radio broadcast service now). McCaw has pursued this idea for a very long time, starting with Teledesic in the late 1990's, and when ICO began having financial trouble, McCaw got his hooks into it, tried to merge the two, or not (I can't piece together what did, or didn't happen from a brief web search). A press release provides some details on ICO's plans for "Mobile Interactive Media" (MIM), combining Internet access, Voice Over Internet Protocol, and multiple channels of video to vehicles. ICO uses spectrum around 2 GHz and Clearwire uses spectrum "spectrally next door" at 2.5 GHz, it's not a surprise that given McCaw's involvement in both companies that there's at least a test partnership between the two companies. Ico is yet another example of how McCaw thinks ten steps ahead of his competitors and why I'm confident that Clearwire will, in the end, end up with Sprint Nextel's 2.5 GHz spectrum - McCaw / Clearwire has the vision, Sprint Nextel simply doesn't.
Questionable choice for new Cisco CTO - ex Motorola CTO Is anyone besides me underwhelmed by Cisco's choice for a new Chief Technical Officer in Padmasree Warrior? Two strikes against Warrior, in my opinion, are that her education was in Chemical Engineering, and she spent 23 of her 47 years at Motorola... not exactly a diversity of experience in technology or corporations. I wasn't impressed by Warrior's "vision" or "direction" at Motorola - acquisitions and development could be summarized as "one of each, please" or "jump-on-the-trend-of-the-moment". But, I guess Cisco needs the help from some serious wireless expertise. Although Cisco did well in acquiring Navini to (finally!) get into Mobile WiMAX, my perception of Cisco's Wi-Fi business is that of an also-ran... they keep getting beat for big, complex, high-profile systems, and they never did get into Metropolitan Wi-Fi networks though that was a complete natural business for them. Well, best of luck Padmasree and Cisco... your tenure should be interesting.
Andrew Seybold - [2007] The Year That Was Wireless If you think I'm a Broadband Wireless Internet Access curmudgeon, well... I bow to Seybold.
By Steve Stroh
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(Last updated 2007-11-06)
This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh except for specifically-marked excerpts. Excerpts and lin*ks are expressly permitted (and encouraged).
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