McCaw's Clearwire Goes WiMAX, Intel Makes 'Significant Investment'

Here's one way to jumpstart WiMAX deployment: make a "significant investment" in a wireless broadband company that promises to use your technology and products.

The dollar amounts and other fine print have yet to be revealed, but that's the quick take on what happened yesterday at the CTIA IT & Entertainment show in San Francisco.

Intel announced that it would invest in Craig McCaw's Clearwire wireless broadband company.

In addition, Intel will continue to work with NextNet Wireless, a Clearwire subsidiary to develop WiMAX technology and products based on Intel's chips.

McCaw purchased Clearwire earlier this year from Clearwire Holdings. Clearwire launched its first high speed wireless network this summer in Jacksonville, Florida using UMTS TD-CDMA equipment. Moving forward, it will deploy NextNet equipment. (McCaw acquired NextNet this summer.)

NextNet's system is supposed to be dead simple to install. Plug your computer into a NextNet modem with an Ethernet cable, turn the modem on and Internet access is there. NextNet has some hefty experience from its near line of sight (NLOS) wireless broadband system, Expedience. Expedience is currently deployed throughout the world, and in Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina and Ohio here in the US.

Clearwire's real crown jewel, though, is its rights to ITFS 2.5 Ghz spectrum in 100 markets throughout the US.

The investment comes from Intel Capital, its strategic investment program that's working to spend $150 million promoting the development of high speed wireless networks around the world.

For more on Intel's investment in Clearwire, check Intel's press release.

For more on McCaw's purchase of Clearwire, read Fixed Wireless Play>from the Dallas Business Journal.

For more on McCaw's acquisition of NextNet, read McCaw Launches Clearwire, Acquires NextNet>from Broadband Wireless Online.

For more on Clearwire, click here.

For more on NextNet Wireless, click here.

Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in ExtremeTech.