Reston-based Sprint Nextel revealed some of its partners for its 2008 Wimax initative, and a number of the companies who will produce Wimax-related devices this year.
Sprint has invested billions of dollars in Wimax, a broadband Internet service for use by mobile phones. The initiative was the pet project of ousted former CEO Gary Forsee; the firm’s new executives had been cautious about the project about since Forsee’s departure.
A soft launch of Wimax has been under way since mid-December in D.C., Baltimore and Chicago, Sprint spokesman John Polivka said.
“Sprint employees have been using the service in a variety of settings so we can fine-tune what we want on day one,” he said. The company is on target for a commercial launch in the middle of the second quarter, he said.
Sprint said Tuesday that St. Louis-based Amdocs will be the lead integrator for the mobile portal that cell phone customers will use to access the Wimax network. D.C.-based company SwapDrive was among the firms announced which will play a smaller role in the project; SwapDrive will offer storage solutions for users’ data.
Sprint also revealed that companies such as San Francisco-based OQO and Taiwan-based ASUSTek will be creating Wimax-cable devices such as computers and handsets.
“WiMax is Sprint’s longer-term growth vehicle, and if they don’t proceed or can’t make it work, they will have very little ability to grow customers and revenues,” said Jack Gold, principal analyst for J. Gold Associates. “They can still mess things up if the technology isn’t deployed correctly or at an affordable price, but they have =to try.”
