US WiMAX spectrum - up for sale!

User Rating: / 0
PoorBest 

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Monday, 28 April 2008

! Roll up, roll up - who wants to buy US WiMAX spectrum? The spectrum: billions of dollars. The equipment you'll need to sell to consumers to access that spectrum: billions more. The look on Spectrum Wireless executives faces when they sell that spectrum? Priceless. Related stories West Wing writer to script Facebook: The Movie Long term evolution promising 100Mbps on 3G, but Fixed wireless focus boosts BigAir Microsoft IE8 Beta 2 released: the web browser for jerk-offs? Should you fly the capped mobile broadband skies with iPrimus? Spectrum Wireless, a maker of WiMAX chipsets and packet video technology is seeking to sell its WiMAX spectrum holdings for billions of dollars, according to a BetaNews report. Spectrum Wireless has part of the 2.5Ghz spectrum, and the “2.3 GHz WCS and 1.7/2.1 GHz BRS/EBS spectrum”, according to Roy Berger, executive VP at Spectrum, who spoke to BetaNews in an exclusive interview.  The spectrum is estimated to be worth around US $6 billion, which Spectrum would use to continue its hardware and chipset manufacturing businesses for both LTE (long term evolution, or 4G technology), and WiMAX – a rival 4G technology. Berger told BetaNews: "We no longer see [holding our own spectrum] as strategic or necessary. The next major step for our chip set will be to support both LTE and WiMAX." Spectrum Wireless has a WiMAX chip which can seamlessly switch between all three WiMAX spectrum ranges the company held – 2.5, 2.3 and 1.7/2.1Ghz, which it will now sell to equipment manufacturers. Spectrum Wireless seems poised to become a major WiMAX chipset supplier worldwide, especially if it is successful in selling its spectrum at the right price, but whether this will speed up the adoption of WiMAX around the world – in heavy competition with existing and rapidly proliferating 3.5G HSPA networks worldwide – is yet to be seen. For more details, please see the original BetaNews report. In Australia, the recently elected Federal Labor Government has only just scrapped an AUD $1 billion plan to help fund a WiMAX network that could eventually have covered a large percentage of the Australian population. Now that this has been cancelled, the future for WiMAX in Australia is up in the air – where WiMAX should have been! Please enable JavaScript in your browser to post your comment! Tags See All Tags 3.5G  3G  4G  Alex ZaharovReutt  Australia  Carriers  Cellular networks  Fixedmobile convergence  HSDPA  HSPA  Logn Term Evolution  Mobile roaming  Mobile services  Mobility  Next generation networks  Telecommunications  WiMAX  Wireless  Wireless Carriers  Wireless broadband  Get stories like this delivered daily - FREE - subscribe now

 

< Next story in category		Previous story in the category >