I usually avoid perpetuating rumors, but this one is too interesting to resist. Imagine you are Clearwire and you sign a single contract that gives you a massive number of tower sites. Not only to you solve a siting problem, you  get an “anchor customer” for your backhaul network in the process.  In fact, putting a tower on every single Wal Mart could bring more broadband to rural America before the first one of President Obama’s very pricey broadband availability maps are completed.

Our source tells us that the effort to grow the nationwide WiMax network includes placing place WiMax towers on the top of all Walmart locations.  According to them, they were advised to consider how many stores overlap each other in a 30-50 mile radius.  Essentially, this would be enough to cover a good chunk of the United States. Plus, this would not cost nearly as much as erecting towers and dealing with hassles like zoning permissions. (Andriod Guys)

I keep reading that WiMax is a fringe technology that will surely die in the shadow of LTE. Apparently, US mobile WiMax carrier Clearwire isn’t listening. While the big,  authoritative talk coming from the LTE camp’s minions in the blogosphere make it sound like Clearwire’s technology does not work, there are plenty of users whose experience indicate otherwise. In fact, if you compare raw carrying capacity, Clearwire curently has the rights to a much broader swath of spectrum than any of its LTE based competitors. That means if a speed race evolves in the wireless space, Clearwire should be the winner. Then there’s the technology itself. While LTE is in the testing phase the current version of WiMax is mature. In fact, by the time LTE is out of the test phase, second generation WiMax could be on its way. Plus, if you want 4G service today, WiMax is the only game in town. I’m not putting down, LTE. When it’s actually ready, I’ll give it an equally objective review.

With the new service Chicago and Dallas Fort Worth DSL and cable users will have a new competitive option to existing service. It will be interesting to see if a third option for those users is enough to start a price war. In the mobile space, this new pipe is a game changer. Initially, users will find themselves limited to access via traditional laptops, netbooks  and a very pricey new hand held device. In 2010, we’ll see new mobile devices entering the market that will signal the end of traditional cell service by enabling enabling VoIP as a feature on any device rather than the primary function.

For the Third Pipe readers that are lucky enough to be in Clearwire’s coverage area, our new sponsor Tucanae Services is accepting reservations for Clearwire service to be activated after November 1. Look for Tucanae’s ad here after the launch date.

With the Clearwire consortium accelerating new launches in several major cities this year, 4G wireless has arrived. Verizon is sending signals that it will compete in this space with its own 4G offering sooner rather than later.

Verizon Wireless, the largest US mobile carrier, has just announced that it has successfully completed LTE (4G) data calls in Boston and Seattle – which currently have 10 functional LTE cell sites each.

Based on the 3GPP Release 8 standard, the data calls were made over Verizon’s 700 MHz spectrum, and involved file downloads/uploads, streaming video, Web browsing, and voice transmissions using VoIP.

Will two players be enough to create a competitive market? Probably not in wireless alone. But Clearwire intends to take market share from fixed line providers as well as 3G. Don’t expect Verizon to join in that attack until it’s fiber fixed line service has much broader coverage.  With the current pace of deployment, that time will not come soon.

The US Ag Dept and US Commerce are offering up to $4Bn in combined funds for near term expansion of Broadband. The kicker is the funds have to be in the ground by Sept. 2010. Pretty tall order for the cable mavens in itself. The other is the Net Neutrality rules are very restrictive —

But the program’s strict rules on so-called Net Neutrality principles may keep some of the nation’s largest telecoms from applying for funds and low-interest loans. Companies like AT&T and Verizon warned that such restrictions were unnecessary. They also wanted the government to spend as much on encouraging broadband subscriptions as they are on giving out loans to wireless ISPs that want to expand in areas that the big telecoms deem too much trouble to provide coverage to.

For instance, all applicants have to agree to follow the FCC’s fair internet principles, which require ISPs to let users choose whatever devices and applications they like, without interference from the carrier. The nation’s wireless industry has resisted having those rules apply to them, since it would force them to tear down the walls around their networks. That means letting users bring their own devices to a mobile network, use competing video services on their phones, and use their mobile phones as modems for a laptop without an extra charge.

Since the broadband openness rules will apply in perpetuity to projects, it’s unlikely that any of the nation’s largest mobile carriers will apply for such funds. Projects that use network management techniques to speed up video, for instance, or to slow down file sharing traffic, will have to provide notice to customers about how that works. Networks will also have to interconnect with other networks fairly.

In the main that means the AT&T and Verizons won’t play as they won’t open up their larger network investment to the rules requried to get this smaller pot of gold. A big winner if the govt sticks to their guns? Clearwire. As a WISP they can deploy network nodes much quicker. That and their lower capitalization means they would be willing to open up to get the money.

Linky.

OK this isn’t big news, but it does introduce some interesting possibilities. As part owner of the Clear service build that began as a partnership between Clearwire and Sprint, Comcast could add quite a bit of muscle to the marketing push for the new service.It’s beginning to look like a service that will be sold under many brands. One service with many brands, outlets and potentially different service levels is something we haven;t seen before in the wireless or broadband space

The so-called fourth-generation (4G) wireless service, is the first execution of a partnership between Comcast, Clearwire Corp and other companies that use the emerging WiMax high-speed mobile technology.

Many consumers already update their blogs and watch videos using their mobile phones. Cable companies such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable Inc do not want to become irrelevant by restricting subscriber access to the home.

The new service, called “Comcast High-Speed 2go,” is expected to deliver data to laptops, netbooks and other devices over a wireless network at faster speeds than has been commonly available to date.

Comcast said it will offer download speeds of up to 4 megabits per second. Existing 3G wireless networks typically offer download speeds between 1 and 1.5 megabits a second. (Reuters)

Clearwire officially announced it’s WiMAX service is open for buisness in Atlanta today. Las Vegas has been up for a while now. The service has scaled back from it’s original offereing of 4MBPS down speed to a max of 2MBPS. I suspect that provviding adequate backhaul continues to be the challense. Never the less, prices are fairly competitive, particularly when you compare with 3G wireless.

Cograts to Lost Wages and Hotlanata. We had heard Dallas Fort Worth was slated to be next. We’re waiting with money in hand.

A whole patch of 2.5Ghz licenses are coming up for bid. This is the WiMax band. Same place that folks like Clearwire are playing in. Looking at a list of the service areas most are the rural or outskirt suburban areas. The juiciest one appears to be the Miami service area. –

So now we roll into the PN for the 2.5 GHz band auction. With Kevin Martin gone, it’s unclear whether anonymous bidding will survive. While some folks in the Wireless Bureau love it and think it is an important rule for making auctions more efficient, I know from experience that other folks in the Wireless Bureau hate it. With the 8th floor operating with only 3 Commissioners, one of whom is waiting to move on, and everyone focused on the upcoming DTV Transition June 12, this item is unlikely to attract a lot of attention. Even if the final decision happens after Genechowski and newly nominated 3rd Democrat Mingon Clyburne come on board, along with whatever Republican they finally settle on, the majority of Commissioners will be coming to a very complex issue cold.

Mr. Feld may have a minor expectation that there might be some changes in the bidding process. It could happen. But like most bureaucracies, change comes slowly especially when there are new entrants in the commissioners chairs. Unless they are given an external shove from Congress I would expect it to go down pretty much like 700mhz auction did.

The one outliers is pricing. With 700mhz still in what looks like deployment limbo for a lot of markets the WiMax WISPs might bid more than expected. I suspect they see an opening with a short window and may be willing to pay a little extra before competition drives down pricing.

Read Mr. Feld’s article here.

Most readers know our position on the DTV delay. Its a fools errand that will garner nothing of use to the end user. But it does possibly garner something for folks on the other side of the equation — the providers. In this particular case Clearwire –

But a longer, more disruptive delay might provide some breathing room for Verizon competitor Clearwire. That company is seeking to build market share for its own WiMAX network, a joint venture with Sprint, before LTE is ready for prime time. Clearwire has boasted that it remains years ahead of the competition, but while WiMAX networks in Portland and Baltimore are already up and running, scheduled expansions to other cities have been delayed until late 2009, even as Verizon has bumped up its own schedule. The company’s stock has now been in free-fall for months, and several major backers recently announced they would take major write-downs on their investments in Clearwire. (The roster of large investors in Clearwire includes Obama-ally Google.) A toxic negative feedback loop in investor confidence could leave it unable to finance its promised buildouts for 2009. With any transition delay certain to push the spectrum handover into the next quarter of the fiscal year, if not further, the attendant uncertainty could also factor into investment decisions as Wall Street–and equipment makers–decide which standard to back.

And ….

Enter Gerry Salemme. A telecom industry veteran; former lobbyist; and Clearwire executive vice president for strategy, policy, and external affairs, Salemme has also been a generous Obama supporter. Early in the primary season, Salemme gave the maximum $2,300 to Obama for America, and then in August threw in another $10,000 to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that accepts large contributions and carves them up between the party and candidate. (An apparent typo in the OVF’s FEC filing credits this donation to “R. Gerard Salemine.” OpenSecrets shows the cash as split into $5,400 for the Democratic National Committee’s Services Corporation and two contributions of $2,300 to Barack Obama, which on face would seem to exceed Salemme’s cap for the primary and general combined.) Once the race to the White House was won, Salemme scrounged another $5,000 for the transition effort.

As of this writing, Salemme is not mentioned anywhere on the Change.gov site–which lists members of the Obama transition’s staff, policy working groups, and agency review teams–nor has there been any public announcement of his involvement with the presidential transition. A spokesman for his company says that Salemme “remains in his position as Executive VP at Clearwire.” But Ars has learned that Salemme has been on leave using accrued vacation and acting as a key advisor to the Obama transition team on DTV issues.

I am not some snot nosed waif who got off the boat yesterday. I know this is the way the game is played in many quarters. The problem is the infighting and jockeying that is generally done in the halls and industry forums has spilled out into the general public. It is not even funny. What all these insiders don’t realize is if they let the dirty linen get exposed in public they could find themselves kneecapped like a borrower from a loan shark. Need I remind them that The O has recommended salary caps for those on the dole at the banks? It would not be a big stretch to do the same with anyone using the public airwaves. Don’t scoff.

DO read the whole thing here.

As part of the stimulus package, there are provisions for tax abatements for rural wireless broadband deploys. Now we have been saying here for years now that rural was ripe for wireless broadband. In fact so that they really don’t need the stimulus to make it. Anyhow here are some particulars –

The Senate Finance Committee later today is expected to make tax credits available to wireless carriers and others in the telecom industry that expand broadband networks to rural and low-income urban areas with little or no high-speed Internet access.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), a senior member of the finance panel and chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, plans to offer an amendment this afternoon that provides a 10% tax credit to service providers that invest in current generation broadband (defined as at least 5 Mbps downlink and 1Mbps uplink) infrastructure in unserved and underserved portions of the country A 20% tax credit would be available to carriers that bring next-generation broadband (100 Mbps downlink and 20 Mbps uplink) networks to those areas. However, commercial mobile wireless carriers would be eligible for the 20% tax credit if they offer broadband service at speeds of at least 3 Mbps downlink and 768 Kbps unlink in unserved and underserved locales.

The irony for somebody like Verizon is that they have been selling off anything that even smells ‘rural’. So some WISPs might have a shot at this. Fact Clearwire ought to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of this largess.

More here.

It’s time to douse the Wimax FUD flames that all of the LTE folks have been fanning. With likely delays in analog TV shutdown, the vapor technology called LTE could move even farther off over the horizon. While Wimax deployment has been as slow as a turtle race, where live, it’s working quite well. Here’s an excerpt from a  real review by a real person in Portland:

The performance of the Clear network was consistently good, with throughput typically over 3 mbps in the downlink and between 350 and 400 kbps in the uplink. Internet browsing was fast, so I decided to spend most time checking video applications (YouTube, New York Times, and even a full screen movie from Hulu) and video-conferencing with Skype. All worked reliably well in areas with good coverage. The major limitation of the network were a few areas without sufficient coverage-which I visited twice during the day-, but this is to be expected in a new network still being optimized. (Senza Fili Consulting)

Sadly any delay in LTE getting off the ground also lowers the urgency for Clearwire to complete a national WiMAX network. As for the FUD peddlers who play the pay to post game with bloggers who fan the Wimax FUD flames: I never got your check, so I’m telling the truth about WiMAX. Enjoy the fire hose!