A rapidly growing phenomenon in the telecommunications world is the growth of “cord cutters,” people who give up their hardwired landline phones and use only cell phones. Now one of the leading proponents of that shift, Sprint Nextel, hopes to do for the Internet what it’s doing for telephones.
At a ceremony Friday in Baltimore, officials from Sprint Nextel celebrated the official launch of the company’s XOHM WiMAX service by literally cutting a cord — they sliced through some Cat-5 wire with pruning shears to mark the end of the wired Internet.
“4G has rapidly gone from a mobility vision to service reality with the launch of XOHM service in Baltimore,” said Barry West, XOHM’s president. “Nothing has ignited the imagination of a cross section of industries and the partnership of an ecosystem the way WiMAX technology has. We are delighted with the reception we have received.”
Can You Ping Me Now?
Although XOHM, Sprint’s 4G business unit, has aggressive plans for nationwide WiMAX, the actual implementation may take some time. John Polivka, a spokesperson for Sprint/Nextel/XOHM, said that not every corner of Baltimore can receive WiMAX just yet.
“About 70 percent of the city has coverage, and we continue to work on expanding it,” Polivka said. “There are 180 base stations operating, and the target at end of build out is about 300.” Polivka did not say how long it might be before the build out was complete.
Long-term, XOHM hopes to roll out enough of its national network to make WiMAX available to as many as 140 million people by the end of 2010. Executives said that financing is in place to provide approximately $3.2 billion of the $5 billion needed for the build out, and expressed confidence that despite the ongoing economic problems, the remaining $1.8 billion would be available.
Polivka said that the…