XOHM WiMAX - Interview w/ Senior VP of Mobile Broadband Ops

[sopasesos]

continuing the roller coaster of good news/bad news regarding Sprint and WiMAX:

highlights include monthly subscriptions UNDER $50 and the ability to purchase WiMAX access on a day to day basis...

Atish Gude, VP of business operations for Sprint’s Xohm WiMax unit, talks a little bit about this fall's launch of their mobile WiMax service in Baltimore in a video over at Unstrung.


Wireless Internet access -- pure, simple, and cheap...

Speaking at the recent NXTcomm show in Las Vegas, Atish Gude, VP of business operations for Sprint’s Xohm WiMax unit, ran down a laundry list of ways he expects the network to be different from standard cellular offerings. Aside from the focus on mobile data, not voice, some of the key differences will be in how much it charges for service and the way people can billed. Gude is promising monthly prices of $50 or less and options such as a “day-pass” for sometime users...

This kind of model and pricing makes the initial WiMax deployment something more akin to commercial WiFi hotspot deployments. The initial devices that will be available for the network also reflect this data-centric focus, with WiMax cards and the Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) 810 tablet being some of the initial offerings.

Sprint will follow the Baltimore launch with Chicago and Washington, D.C., WiMax networks in the fourth quarter. Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR) is planning a Portland, Ore., launch on roughly the same time-frame. Both operators will then combine their networks to deploy WiMax networks nationwide through 2010...

check the unstrung link for the video.

story via unstrung (http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=158196)via broadbandreports (http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/Sprint-WiMax-Less-Than-50-95875)

[Dragonman]

Wirelessly posted (Treo 755p: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D060; Blazer/4.5) 16;320x320)

The $50/month sounds great, however remember they announced earlier that they were shooting for UNSUBSIDIZED device pricing. Overall this will still be cheaper but don't expect $100 devices and that low monthly rate.

[kizman]

I liked how he danced around the 4g question.

[sopasesos]

Wirelessly posted (Treo 755p: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D060; Blazer/4.5) 16;320x320)

The $50/month sounds great, however remember they announced earlier that they were shooting for UNSUBSIDIZED device pricing. Overall this will still be cheaper but don't expect $100 devices and that low monthly rate.

very true! that's the give and take though... we may indeed be paying full price for a device, but this will be worth it for many who do not want to be in a 2 year commitment.

full price is a small price to pay for the ability to go month to month... or even day to day... contract-free!

besides he does seem to indicate that there will be a full menu of service options... some may sign on to a multi-year deal in order to get an even cheaper month to month rate. also, when you consider that many devices such as laptops, cameras, personal media players and gaming devices will already come with WiMAX embeded, then it makes it that much easier for people to flip on the WiMAX switch.