Why Sprint went with WiMAX

The telecom world is still buzzing a bit about Sprint Nextel picking WiMAX as its next-generation data service (because we're not a stock newsletter, we're sure it's coincidence that the company announced today COO Len Lauer is leaving). WiMAX, detractors say, is fine for "nomadic" applications, where you bring technology to a site and don't move it, like a house. For "mobile" applications--like a car going down the highway--existing (and competing) 3G players say WiMAX isn't so great. Then why did Sprint Nextel go with WiMAX? Here's the conspiracy theory: Because Intel, which is largely behind WiMAX, will pay anything to see WiMAX deployed widely. There's admittedly a certain sense to that. The more WiMAX chips Intel produces the cheaper they become, an application of Moore's Law that the telecom business doesn't see much of. And Intel does have a history, with its Intel Inside and aggressive push with Centrino WiFi chips, of driving its way into an industry. So call this another collision of the computer industry and telcos, and we all know who's won most of those collisions so far.

For more information about WiMAX, Intel and telcos:
- read this article in Computing