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May 16, 2008

Today, Samsung Electronics and Sprint have announced that a technical benchmark was reached in their WiMAX efforts.

Sprint is now taking acceptance of Samsung’s network in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C., area.

It’s a step closer to commercial availability.

Overall, Sprint isn’t saying when it will launch Xohm commercially except to say it will be sometime later in 2008.

Like with any merger, Sprint and Clearwire act as separate companies until their deal, which will combine Sprint’s Xohm properties with Clearwire’s, probably in the fourth quarter, said Sprint spokesman John Polivka.

The first data session for the Samsung network took place last October. Interoperability testing with multiple device vendors was done in April 2008.

Having taken acceptance of Samsung’s gear means the backhaul solutions are in place to handle the traffic requirements, he said.

All 4G-type technologies have greater backhaul needs, and Sprint’s case was no exception.

Samsung is the first Xohm vendor to get this level of acceptance. In April, Samsung announced the introduction of several WiMAX-enabled devices.

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Source: Sprint Wireless.