Sprint & Clearwire Call It Quits - WiMAX Will Have to Wait

The deployment of WiMAX is going to be put off a while longer now that the company formed by Sprint and Clearwire, Xohm, has been dissolved. Sprint has declared that the project is dead, while Clearwire is left holding the bag.

Clearwire had produced lots of dollars from its IPO, to develop the relationships and build out the network. The company had demonstrated WiMAX successfully to a crowd of press in Chicago just a few weeks ago, stating that all was well, and that the WiMAX network it would be building would reach up to 100 million by the end of 2008.

The best laid plans…

Although not stated, the problem is certainly one of funding, as Sprint would be responsible for 65% of the joint effort, which would cost hundreds of millions. Hundreds of millions that Sprint cannot come up with due to the losses over the last years, and the incredibly poor handling of customer support issues since the merger with Nextel.

With AT&T still fresh from the buyout/merger of Cingular, and Verizon busy with massive build outs in the United States with its fiber optical push, and its major efforts in Australia, it will be interesting to see who steps up to build the first WiMAX network. Technology knows no loyalties, and waits for no one.

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[tags] WiMAX, Sprint, Clearwire, Xohm, AT&T, Verizon, Cingular, Nextel [/tags]