Wow, I guess Sprint is really not playing around when it comes to their investment in the future of wireless communications!

Sprint Nextel plans to roll out a mobile broadband network that delivers video, music, and other large files at speeds approaching those of a DSL connection in a broad array of portable devices.

Sprint’s plans focus on deploying a WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) system, with help from I.T. giants Intel, Motorola, and Samsung. Together, the partners will develop the network infrastructure, as well as mobile WiMAX products, to deliver wireless broadband services for an array of portable devices.

WiMax, in essence, creates hotspots that stretch dozens of miles, or metropolitan areas, and allow users to surf the Web wirelessly at speeds that match or exceed connections via a DSL or cable modem.

The $3 Billion Bet

Company spokesperson Lee Horner said the fourth generation (4G) mobility network will operate on Nextel’s network, which covers 85 percent of the households in the top 100 U.S. markets. The rollout, to cost an estimated $3 billion, will begin by the end of 2007, with WiMax becoming available to most of the country in 2008, she said…. Source: NewsFactorNetwork