From January WCA - The Big FOUR in US WiMAX Deployments

Whoa-oa-oa! I feel good, I knew that I would, now I feel good, I knew that I would, now So good, so good...

From I FEEL GOOD by James Brown.

Apologies for that "musical" interlude above, but it did feel "so good" to attend "WCA Expo" as Press last week, getting to learn new things again that I can write about and share, and it feels just as good to be writing full time for this and the other (very soon) Stroh Publications column/blogs.

No Wireless Telephony Representation at WCA Expo?
In my previous posting, I neglected to mention a curious absence at the recently-concluded Wireless Communications Association International's (WCAI) annual International Symposium and Business Expo held January 16-19, 2007 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California. I may have overlooked a speaker or two... but I noted that the wireless telephony (cellular) industry didn't seem to have any representation at WCA. This is in marked contrast to previous WCA events that I've attended - there is almost always someone from the wireless telephony industry on panel sessions to "show the flag" of their industry and argue that they are "already doing Broadband Wireless Internet Access" with existing spectrum, existing RF and back-end infrastructure, deploying quickly, using mature technology, doing all this on a national scale, and finding eager customers.

But I didn't hear any of that at "WCA Expo" this year. I have a few theories as to "why", of course. One is that with Sprint/Nextel's decision last year to use WiMAX technology in their 2.5 GHz spectrum and Motrola and Intel's massive funding of Clearwire, there's no longer any hope of "blunting" the momentum of WiMAX in the US. Another was that perhaps they decided to put their energies into exhibiting at the massive Consumer Electronics Show (which has somewhat assumed the role for the computer and network industries that the COMDEX trade show used to play) or put all their energies into "preaching to the converted" at the upcoming CTIA Wireless 2007 Conference March 27-29, 2007 in Orlando, Florida.

But mostly, I missed some of the fiery technological rhetoric exchanges between the partisans of CDMA and OFDM/A :-)

The Big Four In US WiMAX Deployments?

Another interesting thing I learned at "WCA Expo" is that there seem to be four large Broadband Wireless Internet Access Service Providers that intend to deploy WiMAX. The first two are, of course, Sprint/Nextel and Clearwire.

The third is the new New NEW AT&T (formerly SBC, who merged with AT&T, who then merged with BellSouth, and with that merger now controls all of Cingular Wireless which will soon be rebranded, yet again, to AT&T [but not, apparently to AT&T Wireless - just "AT&T-division-that-provides-wireless-telephony-services"]). I knew that SBC owned a substantial amount of 2.3 GHz Wireless Communications Service (WCS) spectrum, but I had forgotten that (formerly standalone) AT&T Wireless also owned a substantial amount of WCS spectrum (from pre-merger AT&T's storied, promising, but ultimately doomed "Project Angel fixed wireless project), which then went to Cingular when it acquired AT&T Wireless, and now that "AT&T Wireless" WCS spectrum is now combined with the "BellSouth" WCS spectrum, resulting in the new New NEW AT&T now possessing a substantial US footprint of WCS Spectrum. While I'm not aware of AT&T publicly committing to deploy WiMAX in their WCS spectrum ala Sprint/Nextel... 1) deploy they must as a strong condition of the AT&T / BellSouth merger, and 2) AT&T would be hard-pressed to justify deploying anything but WiMAX in their WCS spectrum, given that 2.3 Mobile WiMAX technology will mature very rapidly given the proving ground of Korea already deploying "WiBro/WiMAX" systems in 2.3 GHz.

The fourth US BWIA Service Provider that will be deploying WiMAX is... NextWave. With only a quick glance at their web site, one could be forgiven for concluding that NextWave is primarily in the wireless components business... which it is... or that NextWave is in the handset software business... which it is, or (most recently) that NextWave is in the Metropolitan Wi-Fi systems business. But dig a bit and you find NextWave Broadband.

I heard it mentioned numerous times at "WCA Expo" that NextWave will be deploying WiMAX. NextWave owns substantial spectrum licenses including some holdover 1.9 GHz PCS spectrum (if memory serves), 2.3 GHz WCS, 2.5 GHz BRS, and most recently 1.7/2.1 GHz AWS spectrum acquired during the last year's auction of AWS spectrum. As far as using NextWave using WiMAX... ample evidence of NextWave's intent is on NextWave's masthead where you will find Dr. Roger B. Marks who can, in my opinion, very reasonably be called one of, if not the Father of IEEE 802.16 and WiMAX for his intense involvement in the evolution of 802.16 and WiMAX.

2007 will be an interesting year in the US for Broadband Wireless Internet Access!

• Verizon Wireless and Sprint/Nextel deploy 1xEV-DO revision A in their networks
  
• Sprint/Nextel deploys Mobile WiMAX in its 2.5 GHz BRS spectrum
  
• AT&T "Wireless" deploys HSDPA more widely in its network
  
• AT&T "Wireless" or AT&T "not-Wireless" deploys Mobile WiMAX in its 2.3 GHz WCS spectrum
  
• T-Mobile may finally get into Broadband Wireless competition (once it irons out the "pioneer" issues of being first in the US to use 1.7 / 2.1 GHz spectrum)
  
• Clearwire continues its aggressive deployments fueled by investments of >$1B
  
• Metropolitan Wi-Fi deployments continue unabated
  
• NextWave does... ?
  
• Covad having enough confidence in Broadband Wireless to quietly rebrand its NextWeb subsidiary acquired a few years ago into "Covad Wireless"

(Any big ones that I missed? Please let me know.)

Like I said... reporting on all this Feels GOOD!

Steve Stroh

This story is Copyright 2007 by Steve Stroh