Google is teaming up with Clearwire, Sprint, Time Warner Cable, Comcast and Intel to build a national WiMAX network. See the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Branding Post for more details.
The new joint venture will retain the Clearwire brand name and Clearwire’s existing consumer WiMAX business. Sprint contributes its network infrastructure and 2.5 gHz frequency allocation. It’s possible this deal will clear the FCC and antitrust regulators, because Google isn’t a major owner in the JV.
Yesterday, a Wall Street journal blog referenced my billso.com article of 18 April 2008 in a discussion about Yahoo and Google’s possible cross-licensing deal. The Clearwire deal is a more direct combination that may help the JV partners lock in consumers, businesses and advertisers.
Too many partners?
I’m reluctant to believe if this large joint venture can actually work. Sprint is the lead partner with a 51 percent stake, and this seems like a desperation move to being acquired outright by Deutsche Telekom or another company.
Pricing and marketing may determine if consumers will pay any attention to this JV. Can Clearwire and Sprint can offer their existing customers some compelling reasons to get some new hardware and try WiMAX? Verizon earns 23 percent of its wireless revenue from data calls on that company’s EVDO and other networks.
Google does need a vast network in the US to support its Android smartphone platform, and the company can’t wait or afford to build it from scratch.
WiMAX would give Google an alternate medium for data service, instead of relying on one telecom carrier as Apple has done with AT&T. Even with 3G service, the iPhone’s data transfer rates will seem slow when the user can’t get WiFi access.
Yes, the iPhone does support WiFi. But I’m sure Clearwire and its partners will market Android phones that support WiFi as well as WiMAX and the sponsoring carrier’s cell phone service, but the battery drain for a typical mobile device user may be a serious problem.
Related posts on billso.com
- 6 May 2008: T-Mobile’s parent may buy Sprint
- 29 April 2008: New iPhone will be subsidized, faster and thinner
- 22 April 2008: Android vs iPhone
- 18 April 2008: Antitrust regulators would fight a Yahoo-Google combination
- 18 March 2008: The 700 mHz auction is over
- 28 February 2008: The Google cable
- 22 February 2008: Customer lock-in
- 20 January 2008: Nokia, Sprint announce layoffs
- 9 December 2007: The mobile office in Honolulu
- 12 September 2007: The Google Phone and the iPhone – both looking for software and spectrum
- 27 August 2007: Wireless providers gird themselves for battle
- 14 June 2007: Clearwire signs WiMax deal with DirecTV, EchoStar
- 5 February 2007: Wireless from the inside out
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