The long-term outlook for WiMax and Sprint is getting
cloudier. The Dow Jones Newswire reports that Sprint has further
delayed the rollout of its Xohm WiMax service. Originally, Sprit promised
to launch Xohm this month and now Sprint spokesman James Fisher says the
service will come later this year.
Rumors at CTIA suggest that the service will launch later in
the summer, but no official confirmation of that rumor has come from Sprint.
Sprint’s Xohm WiMax service appeared to be doomed from the start. What was once
supposed to be a $5 billion investment in a nationwide WiMax network was cut
back to a three city soft launch.
Fisher says that the soft launch of the Xohm service in the three test cities --
Chicago, Washington D.C., and Baltimore -- is going well. Fisher goes on to
say, “We want to make sure the launch meets our expectation."
It’s no surprise that with the layoffs and falling margins
Sprint is seeing that it would want to be sure the service gets the interest of
consumers in the test markets.
Sprint was a virtual no show at CTIA with the only
announcement being one new phone. Many show goers were expecting big
announcements on the WiMax front. Nokia has to feel left out in the cold after
announcing its new N810 WiMax at the show and now having virtually no U.S.
network for the device to operate on.
The Wall Street
Journal reports that Sprint is in talks with cable companies for additional
funding for the Xohm rollout and is also said to be considering creating a
separate company with Clearwire to peddle WiMax. The future for WiMax is only
getting murkier as rival wireless companies back 4G technology called Long-Term
Evolution.