More US WiMax Launches Planned for '09

Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR) and Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) are to launch their mobile WiMax services into a number of new U.S. markets before the end of 2009, with the bulk of them expected to support white-label offerings from cable partners Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) and Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC).

Here's how it's to break down:

Philadelphia, Chicago, and Seattle
Clearwire, Comcast, and Sprint will begin offering their WiMax services in Comcast's hometown of Philadelphia in "the next several weeks," with events and retail store openings to follow soon after.

In November, the services -- Comcast's High-Speed 2go, Clearwire's "CLEAR," and Sprint 4G -- will reach Chicago on a date not yet announced.

All three providers will begin selling their WiMax packages in Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., "in early December."

Comcast, a Clearwire investor, has already introduced High-Speed 2go in Atlanta; Portland and Bellingham, Wash; and Salem, Ore. (See Cable Plays Clearwire Card, Comcast's All Clear in Atlanta, and Comcast Maxes Out in Portland.)

More WiMax in Q4
Clearwire and Sprint also confirmed plans to each launch WiMax service in the following areas before 2010:

• In Charlotte, Greensboro, and Raleigh, N.C.; Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, and San Antonio, Texas, in November.
  
  
• In Honolulu and Maui, Hawaii, by early December.

Time Warner Cable, another MSO bankrolling Clearwire, has already announced plans to launch its WiMax service, Road Runner Mobile, in the North Carolina markets on December 1, followed by a debut in Dallas and parts of Hawaii in the coming weeks. (See TWC Revs Up 'Road Runner Mobile' in North Carolina.)

Overall, Clearwire expects to have mobile WiMax networks deployed in more than 25 markets, with coverage for 30 million people by the end of 2009. Other markets already launched or underway include Milledgeville, Ga.; Baltimore; Boise; Las Vegas; and the following cities in Texas: Abilene, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Waco, and Wichita Falls.

Bright House Networks , the final Clearwire partner from the cable fold, has yet to identify its WiMax brand or announce any mobile service launches. That MSO serves 2.4 million customers in Tampa Bay and Orlando, Fla.; Bakersfield, Calif.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Detroit; and Birmingham, Ala. Bright House also servers some smaller regions in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Cable Digital News