CHICAGO -- 4G World -- Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR) chief commercial officer Mike Sievert thinks that mobile HD video will be one of the key applications enabled by faster wireless broadband technology, whichever flavor Clearwire ends up deploying.

The Kirkland, Wash.-based operator has been testing Long Term Evolution (LTE) in Phoenix in 10MHz-by-10MHz and 20MHz-by-20MHz channel configurations. Sievert says that LTE can offer download speeds of up to 90 Mbit/s on the test network.

He is expecting at least 20 Mbit/s "even on a network that has some utilization." This should make the technology very suitable for streaming HD video.

Sievert mostly didn’t want to predict which applications LTE would enable. "Nobody really knows for sure," he said.

Nonetheless, he was confident that mobile HD video will be part of the service mix. "We can get some glimpses into the future," he teased, adding that "once consumers get a taste of high definition they never want to go back." [Ed note: It's so moreish!]

Nonetheless, the CCO is not yet ready to say for sure that LTE will be part of Clearwire’s future, even if he’s certain that WiMax will be there for years to come: "If we add something to the network it will be just that -- an addition."

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Light Reading Mobile