Sprint Announces WiMax Partnership with Clearwire

In what several Wall Street analysts hailed as a “win-win transaction for both companies” on today’s conference call, Sprint and Clearwire announced a new partnership to deploy a nationwide mobile broadband network using WiMAX Technology. WiMAX is wireless broadband access designed as alternative to cable and DSL. WiMAX differs from WiFi in that it’s a long range system that uses a scheduling algorithm to make the bandwidth use more efficient. WiFi networks are generally confined to small areas – a building or neighborhood and network access is random and not scheduled. WiFi is, however, cheaper to deploy which is why it’s popping up in your local coffee shop.

I dialed into the conference call today, to hear Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff sum up the benefits of the new network: “The ability to have mobile end user devices always on, and always with the person - and that have the benefit of true broadband speed - will enable a whole new generation of internet based services, content and applications.”

The proposed partnership will require approvals from the FCC and the Department of Justice, but both companies said they expect those by the end of the year. The new service will be marketed to consumers under a joint brand and will provide seamless roaming between networks. Sprint and Clearwire currently have some overlap in their territories and are anticipating an exchange of equipment and services to eliminate duplication of effort. This will allow each to operate more efficiently and focus on maximizing the coverage in their territory. According to engineers on the call, they’ve already ordered the first dual EVDO/WiMAX aircards from their vendors.

This new partnership is in keeping with other announcements we’ve seen lately from Sprint including the recent social networking and social mapping partnerships. Clearly Sprint sees an increasing trend toward wireless data and full integration of a variety of mobile devices into our daily lives. We’ll be interested to see the first WiMAX enabled handsets that result from this announcement.