U.S. WiMax Footprint In 2010 Will Blow Away Most Aggressive Plans For LTE
If you boil the 4G technology wars down to two providers, there’s really no contest. Clearwire (NSDQ: CLWR) announced yesterday that it will have mobile WiMax up and running in 80 markets by 2010, and at least eight major markets, including Chicago, Las Vegas and Seattle, this year. Let’s compare that to Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless’ plans, which were unveiled at Mobile World Congress two weeks ago. Verizon’s CTO Dick Lynch said the carrier expects to launch around 25 to 30 markets in 2010 (less than half of what Clearwire’s coverage plans will cover).
In addition, Clearwire plans to reach 120 million Americans by 2010, but Lynch would not say how many people Verizon’s would cover, meaning it could target smaller, less challenging markets at first. And, possibly, what’s worse is that Verizon Wireless
This comparison is apples and oranges. Clearwire is selling laptop mobility, while VZ will be seeling voice and advanced data services on cool gadgets. So VZ just had a simple migration value prop, while Clearwire is trying to create entirely new usage and behavior models. I even doubt people will pay for Clearwire netbooks as a value add. They will get sucked into the ISP model. Perhaps there will be cool handsets, but a really doubt it, what with both Nokia and Ericsson Mobile Platforms cool to WiMax.
For ATT and VZ, LTE netbooks and modems is gravy.
Actually, the two services are very closely related. Soon users will be able to free themselves of the vestiges of having to subscribe to voice services and use purely data services. Imagine paying fifty dollars for unlimited data usage and using a VOIP on your cell phone (Like Skype on the iPhone), never worrying about minutes, while having a phone that operates basically everywhere. They are being placed in direct competition with wireless network operators. Also considering that WiMax is significantly cheaper to deploy than LTE (W-CDMA) it will take off relatively fast.