The Wimax wait in the US seems to be endless.  Most of the action has been from small companies serving small markets.Every now and then a little deployment news from the big players drifts in. Such is the case today, and we are only too eager to share:

Portland in August:

Clearwire has been beta testing its Portland service for several weeks with “a very small group of Intel employees” (Intel is among Clearwire’s big financial backers, and the companies held a joint WiMAX trial in Hillsboro last year.)

The company tells me it will announce its rollout plans, including a Portland timetable, on its quarterly earnings call early next month. (Silicon Forest)

Baltimore in September:

Sprint’s first launch, under the name Xohm, will be in Baltimore in September, with switch-ons following in Chicago and Washington DC. Clearwire plans to launch in Portland, Oregon, in early 4Q-2008, with Atlanta, Las Vegas and Grand Rapids, Michigan, to follow. A report from Muniwireless.com, which quotes a conversation with Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff, says the telco is currently beta testing its Portland network. The Sprint-Clearwire partnership, which will operate under the Clearwire name, is not expected to achieve anything like nationwide WiMAX coverage until 2010 or 2011. (Telegeography)

We we hear more, we’ll add. C’mon guys, get to DFW, I’m dying to give AT&T DSL the boot!

A takeover of Sprint by SK Telecom has been in the rumor mill for more than a year. According to CNBC, it may be more than a rumor very soon. If the dollar falls much further, I’m betting it’s a done deal.

An agreement would be at best weeks away, CNBC said, citing people familiar with the talks.

Sprint shares closed up 9 percent at $9.04.

U.S.-listed shares of SK Telecom, Korea’s largest mobile-phone service operator by subscriber numbers, fell 2 percent to $20.67.

Sprint spokesman James Fisher had no comment on the report. No SK Telecom representatives were available in the early morning hours, Korean time.

CNBC reported that private-equity firms would provide financing for the deal, since SK Telecom’s market value is about half of Sprint’s $22.6 billion. (Yahoo)

Look out Sprint and Verizon. That captive handset you provided can now be reused with Metro PCS. There are plenty of caveats. Forget data service, Metro is voice / text only. Metro’s coverage is spotty and as late comer, they have some of the least effective spectrum. Having said that, if don’t mind a few quirks, you can get dirt cheap month to month service without buying a new phone from Metro.

This week’s announcement by the Dallas-based regional carrier is one of a series of moves in the industry that amount to a gradual opening of the U.S. wireless market, giving consumers more choice over what phones to use on what networks.

Carriers generally sell phones that are locked to their own service. This protects their business model, which is based on subsidizing the cost of the phone by hundreds of dollars, then making that money back on monthly service fees.

MetroPCS’s move threatens these traditional rules. It allows customers with certain models of phones from Sprint Nextel Corp., Verizon Wireless, Alltel Corp. and a few other carriers to bring their phones to MetroPCS stores, where they will be reprogrammed. (Florida Today)

In the markets where MetroPCS  operates, this could actually shake things up a bit. That’s good news for consumers.

Now that Sprint has completed the Wimax venture with Clearwire, Intel, Google and the Cable Guys, it’s well past time to take care of the remaining business. The bad news for Sprint is customer flight continues at an increased pace. Add this the to loss of resale customers via Qwest and it’s clearly well past time to take notice.

The Overland Park, Kan.-based cellular provider, which is the third-ranked operator in the U.S., saw its total wireless subscriber base decline by 1.09 million customers to 52.8 million during the first three months of 2008. Sprint lost 1.07 million monthly contract subscribers and 543,000 pay-as-you-go (prepaid) users, but gained 343,000 Boost Unlimited and 183,000 wholesale and affiliate subscribers. (Unstrung)

OK Sprint, here’s a couple of pointers on surviving and maybe growing from you friends at third Pipe. You need to dump Nextel, now. Then understand that wireless voice has peaked. The current state of wireless is about trading customers and you are the loser in that game. Go after fixed line service customers instead. Since AT&T and Comcast will give anyone unlimited calling for $39.95 a month, then that’s the price to match or beat. Wireless will reach that price in a couple of years anyway so you may as well be the first. AT&T and Verizon will hesitate to compete until it’s too late for them since fixed line is a big profit center. Most importantly, fix customer service. Simplify your packages and you’ll eliminate the majority of customer service calls. When you lower a price, offer it to existing as well as new customers. When a customer’s contract is ending, offer them and incentive to stay. Also…. try offering a reasonably priced plan without a contract.

A strange brew of investors and partners will constitute the first nationwide Wimax network in the US. While lack of funds was never referred to by either Sprint or Clearwire as a reason for delays. it’s an obvious factor. The new cash infusion from investors should insure a proper and hopefully a faster build out.

The new Clearwire will be a $14.5 billion venture with Sprint, Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O), Time Warner Cable Inc (TWC.N), Intel Corp (INTC.O), Google Inc (GOOG.O) and Bright House Networks, to build a high-speed wireless Internet network based on the emerging WiMax technology.

WiMax promises to blanket entire cities with Web access for laptops, cell phones and other wireless devices at fast speeds. It aims to have a service area covering as many as 140 million people in the United States by the end of 2010.

Sprint, which would otherwise have had to invest $5 billion on a solo WiMax network, will now inject WiMax assets valued at $7.4 billion into the venture, giving it 51 percent ownership.

Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Intel, Google and cable operator Bright House will get a combined 22 percent and are expected to kick in $3.2 billion to help finance the project.

Existing shareholders of Clearwire, founded by wireless pioneer Craig McCaw, will own the 27 percent of the venture, which is expected to retain Clearwire’s stock symbol. (Yahoo)

Now a message to Clearwire from the Third Pipe team: Build well and quickly and we’ll sing your praises and even give you a pass or two for mis steps in construction and growing pains. Fail to deliver now and we’ll report with the same zeal. You humble admin is very eager to unplug his Death Star DSL modem as soon as competitive service is available.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the two companies have agree to merge thier wireless units with the help of investments from a few outsiders with Wimax interests.

Sprint has agreed to merge its wireless broadband unit with Clearwire, a Kirkland, Wash., firm founded by cellphone pioneer Craig McCaw. The new company has raised a total of $3.2 billion in outside financing from several heavyweights – $1.05 billion from cable provider Comcast Corp., $1 billion from Intel Corp., $550 million from Time Warner Cable Inc. and $500 million from Internet giant Google. (Wall Street Journal)

Let’s hope that a merged entity will get things moving better than the 2 parts have so far. A little real boradband competition in a few markets could radically change things for the consumer….. for the better.

Some not so great news for Sprint. Their bond debt rating has dropped to Bbb. Now RCR calls this junk status. Oddly most analysts would not consider that rating quite junk but close.

But it is still a problem for Sprint. This drop in the rating raises the costs for internal programs like Xohm. It also puts Sprint in a disadvantage vis a vis its competitors.in any form of pricing war for new services.

RCR’s view here.

Lets roll the clock back 20 years. Its 1988. Cell phone has only been in existence a year or so. But plain ole POTS as still rocking and Avante Garde was ISDN. We know how that all worked out. But that is not the question, so relax. The question is do you trust your providers billing?

Let’s take this guy. He got this bill –

Heart attack city if I had received it. Sprint’s error. In fact a whole bunch of error across multiple bills. But back to history. In the POTS days, getting a bad bill was a rarity. Not perfect of course, but usually so rare that when a big mistake came it hit the local paper as an ‘event’. The regional manager of the telco gets in contact with the customer and usually has it resolved post haste. Bad publicity you know, clean it up was the motto. Fact it was a matter of pride that the Telcos could be so accurate.

Now? In many cases there appears to be a running level of about 5% of the bills being error. I really have to wonder why. In many cases the billing should be easier. Give a listen. In the POTS world there are three entities involved — originator, transporter, receiver. All three get their piece of the call. Now lets take a cell call. Very similar settlement process only it can occur internetwork between two different providers in the same LATA by the simple fact that the customer moved cell to cell. Finally lets take Uverse or FIOS. Other than pay per views the entire pricing is known before hand.

I can’t imagine that a all encompassing bill is that difficult to assemble. The POTS component is the same technology. The broadband bill is pretty much fixed pricing. Nor should the wireless side be that hard. Or at least it would appear that way. So what’s the problem? Bad billing is almost so common as to be a non event in the press.

Kudos to Consumerist. Full billing story here.

It what we view as a positive move by Sprint, they are clamping down on mobile service partners who have very high return rates. At the same time Sprint will be providing good partners up to a 10% discount. Who is this directed at? Folks like Jamster and Buongiorno’s Blinko. –

Sprint Nextel Corp. hopes to clean up the direct-to-consumer content business by hitting wayward partners where it hurts.

The carrier last month told off-deck content aggregators that it will be “strictly enforcing” new revenue-share penalties for vendors who violate Mobile Marketing Association guidelines. Partners who repeatedly stray out of bounds — by incurring high refund rates, for instance, or not reporting billing errors to the carrier — can forfeit every dime and lose their short codes, while those who play by the rules can see as much as a 10% bump in revenue splits.

“Non-compliant short code campaigns will receive penalties up to and including program termination from Sprint Nextel Boost networks,” according to a confidential five-page memo to aggregators obtained by RCR Wireless News. “Conversely, revenue share incentives may be applied for programs performing well on policy compliance.”

This is a positive consumer development. Way too many stories make the press of $8000 monthly bills for services never intended because some teenager thought he/she was getting a free ringtone.

Linky

It seems Sprint has determined that being in trouble is the way to success. Or at least that is the way it seems. Their latest is the following –

Verizon Communications Inc. sued Sprint Nextel Corp. in Delaware federal court, accusing the No. 3 mobile-phone operator of failing to pay nearly $10 million in interconnection charges. A lot of money, but the Verizon-Sprint Nextel spat actually pales in comparison to bigger interconnection controversy playing out at the Federal Communications Commission and in the states — one with an unexpected twist.

“Verizon has repeatedly attempted to resolve this dispute short of litigation,” the lawsuit stated. “Yet these attempts, made over many months and through both written and personal communications, have been fruitless. Accordingly, Verizon has been forced to seek relief from this court.”

Verizon said the money owed by Sprint Nextel is for services in mostly eastern states that are subject to tariffs filed with the FCC.

“Because Verizon’s claims in this matter are running up against a two-year statute of limitations, this complaint comes as no surprise — this is simply a standard legal maneuver by Verizon to preserve their legal claim against us,” said John Taylor, a Sprint Nextel spokesman. “We remain hopeful that we can resolve this matter without any further legal action by either party.”

Verizon is saying that Sprint has not settled its inter-company charges in a timely manner. Considering the squeeze that Sprint is in right now I am not surprised that they are dragging their feet.

Linky.