by Mike Masnick
Wed, Sep 23rd 2009 12:22am
Filed Under:
net neutrality, traffic shaping, voip, wimax
Companies:
clearwire
by Mike Masnick
Tue, Nov 4th 2008 6:30pm
Filed Under:
deals, fcc, mergers, spectrum
Companies:
alltel, at&t, clearwire, comcast, google, sprint, time warner, verizon
FCC Just Couldn't Stop Voting
from the election-day-festivities dept
Other than that, the FCC said that it's going to start looking into the pricing policies of cable companies... and Verizon. Who's missing? FCC boss Kevin Martin's best friends over at AT&T. To be honest, while it's quite likely that the cable companies and the telcos (yes, including AT&T) are abusing their oligopoly position, the answer shouldn't be having the FCC act as a watchdog over pricing policies, but for a better system to be set up that encourages real competition. In the meantime, though, can someone explain why AT&T was left out of the bunch?
by Mike Masnick
Mon, Jul 28th 2008 4:12am
Filed Under:
fcc, mergers, roadblocks, spectrum
Companies:
at&t, clearwire, sprint
AT&T Wants To Throw Some FCC Roadblocks Into Sprint, Clearwire Joint Venture
from the good-luck-with-that dept
In this case, AT&T claims that it isn't really opposed to the merger, but it's filing opposition papers because it feels that Sprint and Clearwire aren't receiving the same level of scrutiny that AT&T received in its mergers, specifically with regards to it spectrum holdings. This seems like grasping at straws by AT&T just to throw some sort of extra paperwork roadblock in the path of the new Clearwire, which is an obvious competitor.
by Mike Masnick
Mon, Jun 9th 2008 6:37pm
Filed Under:
patent pools, wimax
Companies:
alcatel-lucent, cisco, clearwire, intel, samsung, sprint, wi-lan
The Meaningless WiMax Patent Pool
from the somebody's-missing.... dept
So, don't read too much into the fact that a bunch of companies in the WiMax space have agreed to put together a patent pool under the amusingly inaccurately named "Open Patent Alliance." The companies involved, Cisco, Intel, Samsung, Sprint, Alcatel-Lucent, and Clearwire are all betting big on WiMax deployments, so they know it's in their best interest to get the licensing out of the way. But you'll notice that there are a lot of companies missing -- including Wi-LAN who has been claiming that it owns all the key patents over WiMax technology for years. The patent pool sounds nice, but it's certainly not going to diminish the number of patent lawsuits that arise over WiMax technology. If anything, it's just going to make all those other companies even angrier.
by Mike Masnick
Mon, May 12th 2008 7:19pm
Filed Under:
affiliates, contracts, countersuits, exclusivity, wimax
Companies:
clearwire, ipcs, sprint
Sprint And Affiliate Sue Each Other Over Legality Of New WiMax Effort
from the bad-blood dept
by Mike Masnick
Tue, May 6th 2008 8:01pm
Filed Under:
joint ventures, wimax, wireless
Companies:
clearwire, comcast, google, intel, sprint, time warner
Intel, Google, Cable Co's Give US WiMax A New Lease On Life (In The Form Of $3.2 Billion)
from the let's-try-this-again dept
Yes, indeed, Intel, Google, Comcast and Time Warner are teaming up to pump $3.2 billion into a joint venture that would merge Sprint and Clearwire's WiMax operations under the Clearwire brand name. This is certainly no surprise given all the earlier stories, but given how many problems have surrounded WiMax as well as earlier attempts for the cable companies to offer wireless services, don't expect this new venture to go smoothly right from the beginning. That doesn't mean it's not the right thing to do. Most of the companies involved didn't really have much of a choice but to do this. Of course, in all this mess, Sprint and Clearwire squandered a portion of the lead they held over AT&T and Verizon. While it will still take a while for AT&T and Verizon to get LTE plans into motion, all this futzing by Sprint and Clearwire took away some of the huge lead it should have had.
by Mike Masnick
Wed, Mar 26th 2008 11:35am
Filed Under:
cable companies, wimax
Companies:
clearwire, comcast, sprint, time warner
Cable Companies Looking To Buddy Up With Sprint Once Again To Save WiMax
from the let's-see-how-this-works... dept
Are Sprint And Clearwire Getting Back Together Over WiMax?
from the ain't-dead-yet! dept
Sprint And Clearwire Break Up: Bad News For Both... And Anyone Looking Forward To WiMax
from the slow-it-down dept
This is bad news for just about everyone (with the possible temporary exception of the other US mobile operators and baby bells). Without the combined effort, it makes it even more questionable whether either one will be able to go much further with WiMax, let alone build their own nationwide WiMax network. Sprint may end up dropping the WiMax effort altogether (again, due to shortsighted investors) and Clearwire may just be in trouble. It also hurts anyone who was hoping for real wireless broadband in the near future. While the other mobile operators and landline broadband providers may breathe a sigh of relief, it means that those companies can slow down their own plans for next generation services, as the competition won't be as fierce and they won't seem quite as late to the game. There is still some talk that something else could potentially happen with Sprint spinning off its WiMax network plans and merging that with Clearwire, but without the strong backing of Sprint, the plan is less likely to get as far. This isn't the death of WiMax, but it certainly opens up the opportunity for some other wireless broadband offerings to take away some of the WiMax hype.