In perhaps the most critical year for the adoption of WiMax technology, market leader Clearwire is looking to launch in a number of markets. With LTE just a year away, Clearwire must do all it can to spread WiMax and extol its advantages. The next step in their plan comes in June, when they will launch a network in Atlanta. This will go along with their current markets in Baltimore and Portland, making it just the third major WiMax network in the U.S. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and beyond can’t come fast enough.
Clearwire has set its schedule of rollouts for the year. After Atlanta, it’s onto Las Vegas and Chicago over the summer, the latter constituting the largest market yet. They plan to hit Philadelphia and Dallas/Fort Worth later in the year, giving them seven markets before Verizon launches its first official LTE network. That expansion will accelerate in 2010.
“Leveraging our robust pipeline of more than 19,000 cell sites under various stages of design and development, we are planning to significantly extend our wireless 4G network, enabling us to potentially cover as many as 120 million people with true broadband mobility across 80 cities by the end of 2010,” William Morrow, the company’s CEO, said in a statement.
That would be quite the accomplishment by the end of 2010, just 19 months away. Clearwire will have help in the endeavor, as they have partnered with Cisco Systems for infrastructure support. All this could add up to big things for WiMax. That is, if the network is as serviceable as advertised, and Clearwire can market the service effectively.
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