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Dec. 18, 2008

Beginning early next Monday morning, Sprint will become the first wireless carrier in the U.S. to sell a 4G modem in all its stores.

Called the U-300, the new mobile device currently works only for Wi-MAX connections in the Baltimore region.

However, through its Xohm/Clearwire division, Sprint is promising additional market coverage for early next year, possibly in February 2009.

Sprint says that average downlink speeds of 2 to 4 Mb for Wi-MAX will be possible with the new 4G modems.

They will still work in 3G mode around the U.S. at 600 Kb to 1.4 Mb, Sprint officials said.

Franklin Wireless built the new 4G modems, which cost $149 after a $50 mail-in rebate coupon and with a 2-year contract. The contract will cost $79 a month.

The modems will also be sold in BestBuy stores and other Wi-MAX modems are planned for release in January, a spokesman said.

Whether Wi-MAX technology is truly 4G or just an evolution of 3G is subject to debate and technical nuance, but clearly Sprint is advertising it as a next-generation service.

Technically though, and according to ITU (the International Telecommunications Union), WiMAX technology is still 3G.

It will be interesting to see how the other major wireless carriers, namely Verizon and AT&T, follow up on their efforts to bring 4G and WiMAX to the next level.

In the last few months, more and more wireless carriers in the United States, Europe and Asia have established broadband wireless networks to provide wireless services to their users. And among chip manufacturers, Intel has been delivering WiFi/WiMax modules.

It has also been estimated that 802.16e products will remain in hot demand for most of 2009.

In the WiMax market for Asia, South Korea was the first country to launch mobile WiMax services last year, when local companies partnered to provide a mobile WiMax network named “WiBro.”

Recently, eleven companies from the Asia-pacific region have started to provide commercial WiMax networks.

Understandably, and with developing countries displaying more and more interest in Wi-Max technology due to the infrastructure related problems in establishing wired networks, most of the WiMax operators active in the region want to capitalize on the commercial potential being offered in their local markets.

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Source: Sprint Nextel.