AT&T Says WiMax is Their Future for Broadband - We Need WiMax to Work Please

Future of AT&T is wireless. Blog posts are coming out on the topic here and here. However what about other wireless opportunities like WiMax. Is AT&T going to do WiMax? As I understand it, AT&T holds perhaps 45% of the country’s 2.3 GHz spectrum and NextWave some 40% thereof. If AT&T is actually serious about this, the conclusion seems obvious to anyone who can add 2 and 2 together. Interesting timing also, following the recent FCC decision regarding the conditions on the Sirius/XM merger.

Finally, I’m hearing more and more that Echostar and Cox are serious about building their own wireless networks. Their options are limited, and I see them pointing in only a few, not mutually exclusive, directions. Perhaps the new Clearwire won’t be the last US wireless network built in our lifetime after all…

Here is what Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung says on the topic.. (great post with lots of other links to other stories at Unstrung - worth the read).

AT&T Inc. is considering expanding its WiMax footprint beyond the frozen wastes of Alaska as the rising cost of copper starts to make DSL deployments prohibitively expensive in ruralareas of the U.S.

The carrier’s CTO, John Donovan, tells USA Today that WiMax is “at the top of the list” as an alternative technology to copper for the operator. He added that the carrier is also considering cellular femtocells — tiny base stations that extend the speed and coverage of wireless signals in the home — as the way to get cheaper broadband faster to country folk.

Unstrung exclusively reported in September that AT&T could deploy fixed WiMax in some Southern states as early as this year. The operator acquired 2.3 GHz spectrum that would be suitable for WiMax deployments when it bought BellSouth. AT&T presently holds 22 2.3 GHz licenses in the South.

AT&T already has a limited deployment of WiMax technology in Alaska. The operator is using 2.3 GHz equipment from Alvarion Ltd. for those networks. The operator is also said to be looking at extending the WiMax specification for improved video performance.

In fact, AT&T has never put down WiMax as a potential replacement for wired broadband technology. The operator, however, favors long-term evolution (LTE) technology for mobile broadband deployments.

Nonetheless, if AT&T does choose to deploy fixed WiMax as a DSL alternative, that may help to explain its sudden recent interest in the approval process for the Sprint Nextel Corp. Clearwire LLC deal. AT&T argued last week that it believes that if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) were to
include Sprint and Clearwire’s non-operational spectrum, then the proposed merger would be subject to more scrutiny, and therefore, the initial application should be denied.

Clearwire and Sprint hold the vast majority of available 2.5 GHz licenses in the U.S. In fact, AT&T actually sold Clearwire all of its 2.5 GHz holdings back in February 2007 for $300 million.

If it wants to expand WiMax beyond Alaska and some Southern states, however, AT&T will need more spectrum. Potentially it could use some of the 700 MHz spectrum it won at auction earlier this year. AT&T’s
700 MHz holdings are definitely a finite resource, though, and one that may be more suitable for mobile broadband deployments, because it will allow signals to travel further and penetrate buildings more
easily.