Clearwire Details 4G Expansion, New Devices, Upgrades

By Joseph Palenchar On Apr 5 2010 - 4:01am

LAS VEGAS— Mobile WiMAX operator Clearwire and majority owner Sprint Nextel revealed the names of the next cities that will get commercial 4G service this year on the way to expanding the their 4G footprint beyond the current 27 markets to a population of 120 million people by year’s end.

Here at CTIA Wireless 2010, Clearwire also unveiled new 4G devices and announced plans to further accelerate data speeds on its network.

Clearwire markets 4G service under the Clear brand, and Sprint resells the service under its own brand. Earlier this year, the two companies announced plans to roll out service in 2010 to Boston, Denver, Kansas City, Houston, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco and Washington. Now the two have added the following markets to the 2010 list: Cincinnati, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Miami, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City and St. Louis.

On other topics, Clearwire said it would accelerate data speeds by 20 percent to 30 percent, unveiled its latest Clear-serviceembedded subsidized netbook (the $249 Dell Inspiron Mini), and announced plans for its next-generation battery-powered mobile 4G hot spot, which will incorporate embedded mobile WiMAX technology. The current $139 Clear Spot requires the addition of a 4G data modem.

In upgrading its WiMAX network, Clearwire is using antenna signal-processing technology to double the number of transmitters and receivers per cell site, boosting potential end-user throughputs by about 20 percent to 30 percent, the company said. The Clearwire network currently delivers average mobile download speeds of 3Mbps to 6Mbps with bursts of more than 10Mbps, the company said.

The company is making the upgrades on a rolling basis and has already completed the installs in some existing markets, including Seattle, Honolulu and Maui.

In new products, Clearwire on April 1 will launch the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 netbook with embedded 4G technology through select Clear-owned outlets, telesales and www.clear.com. Currently, Clearwire offers 30 different 4G-embedded netbooks and notebooks from such companies as Dell, Lenovo, Fujitsu, Samsung and Toshiba. The Mini 10 will be available for $249 after instant rebate.

The next-generation Clear Spot mobile Wi-Fi hot spot will be available sometime later this year, the company said without disclosing details.