Sprint, one of the top wireless service providers has announced that the iMAX networks in Chicago and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. will be turned live sometime this week. However, this soft-launched will only extend to Sprint workers. This move was meant as a preparation for a broader customer trial in the near future. The company will be just under deadline for its promised trial deployment by the end of the year if the WiMAX launch will be done this week.
Everyone in the wireless industry has been waiting for Sprint’s Xohm launch due to its scale and scope. Mobile WiMAX networks using pre-certified IEEE 802.16e equipment have been previously launched by other smaller and international operators.
The announcement also explained that the soft launches will cover the downtown cores of Chicago, Baltimore and Washington. Rapid outward expansion following existing cellular data traffic patterns throughout their respective cities will begin after the initial launches. The upcoming customer trials are intended to be short because they will used to optimize the network for a full commercial launch.
The company has plans to expand its network to 100 million people by the end of the year. It is planning a fully mobile launch from the get-go, starting with laptop wireless cards and eventually moving to mobile devices as they become available unlike other operators deploying the technology for fixed broadband. There are also plans to allow any device or service provider to access the network by offering the service on an open basis.
However, there may also be changes to the grand scope of Sprint's plans change next year. This is due to the re-examination of Xohm plans early next year in the wake of financial difficulties. Financial troubles forced the company and and Clearwire to call off plans to combine their networks.
Sprint's capital investment in the new network only totaled $73 million in the third quarter even though the company declared that it is still committed to seeing WiMAX through. The investment pales in comparison to the $2.5 billion it said it would spend on the project.
Unless Sprint management decides to change up its strategy next quarter, it will proceed with its deployment schedule as planned. About ten thousand 10,000 base station sites, many of them cell sites for its existing CDMA network has been readied for deployment. More news about this development will be released in the nest few days.
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