Mobile Internet gadgets. New high-speed networks.
Handsets aiming to be the next iPhone. New competitors and ways of doing business.
They’re all on the agenda as the wireless industry gathers this week for its annual show, with more than 1,100 companies and 40,000 people expected at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
While the CTIA Wireless show has been overshadowed in recent years by events such as Apple Inc.’s Macworld conference, where the iPhone debuted last year, new developments have many in the industry buzzing.
Perhaps the biggest news that may erupt this week involves Sprint Nextel Corp. and its effort to roll out a new wireless Internet network, providing high-speed access for people at home and on the go.
The service, called Xohm, is deployed for testing with Sprint employees in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. It uses WiMax technology, which offers speeds akin to cable modems or digital subscriber lines, with a range much greater than Wi-Fi.
While Sprint plans a commercial launch this year, the future of the project has recently been in doubt. Facing slowing growth and subscriber defections, the No. 3 wireless carrier changed CEOs in December and has been closing stores and cutting jobs.
But reports surfaced last week that Sprint and the wireless Internet provider Clearwire Corp. may team with the top two cable companies and other technology firms to keep the WiMax effort alive.
Cable providers have long sought a wireless role to better compete with phone company rivals Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc., which are pushing into the video business.
Comcast Corp. may put up to $1 billion into the WiMax project, with Time Warner Cable kicking in $500 million, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post reported, citing unidentified sources. Other potential partners to fund the tentative proposal include Intel Corp. and Google Inc.
The named companies have made…