WiMax的真实面目

苏公雨

转载自《Wireless Week》

Scott Richardson has been on the forefront of
WiMAX technology for years. Now it’s show time.

Forthe last four years, Scott Richardson has heard every year that “thisis the year of WiMAX.” Now he’s ready to think 2008 might just be “thatyear.
Richardson started out in WiMAX as one of the Intelexecutives pushing the technology in the early part of the decade, thenas head of Intel’s broadband wireless business. He’s among thosecredited with helping create the IEEE 802.16 standard for WiMAX. For alittle more than a year, he has been the chief strategy officer for oneof the leading WiMAX carrier advocates, Clearwire.
Richardsonlaughs now when asked if 2008 is the “year of WiMAX” because he’s heardit so often. But, he says, “I think clearly WiMAX has gone through thehype cycle and now it is a reality.”
Clearwire, founded in 2003by Craig McCaw, launched its first market, Jacksonville, Fla., in 2004and now has 50 commercial markets. Four of those are foreign markets,in Europe and Mexico. It has more than 400,000 subscribers, growingsubscribers in 2007 at a 91% clip through 14 new market launches andincreases in existing markets.
Clearwire has been using pre-WiMAXequipment for its first markets but started trials with mobile WiMAXinfrastructure in 2007, including Portland, Ore. It plans to startinstalling WiMAX equipment in the second half of 2008, although theoperator hasn’t detailed how it will do that. Richardson says Clearwiremay use dual-mode devices to support both technologies and may overlayWiMAX equipment on its existing markets.
ALTERNATIVE TO DSL
Clearwire’scustomers primarily sign up for the service as a fixed wirelessalternative for DSL or cable modems. About 60% of Clearwire’ssubscribers were won from DSL or cable companies. Richardson says thecompany is encouraged by what it’s seeing in its established markets,where in some markets one in every five households subscribes.
Inits first 25 U.S. markets, which all launched prior to 2006, Clearwiresaw 42% net subscriber growth in the fourth quarter, compared to thesame period a year earlier. Those markets accounted for 215,000 of itstotal subscribers, growing 42% year-over-year. They also wereprofitable as a group, as service revenue climbed 88%.
Customer churn increased slightly in 2007, from 1.9% to 2.1%, while average revenue per user rose 5% to $36.81.
“The growth in our initial markets is encouraging,” Richardson says.
Clearwirehas focused on providing coverage in the top 100 markets, withJacksonville, Fla., and Seattle being the two largest cities it haslaunched so far. Last year, it acquired all of AT&T’s 2.5 GHzspectrum, which includes coverage in Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Fla., andNew Orleans.
“We’ve concentrated where we think broadband uptake is the highest,” Richardson says.
HOME & AWAY
Usingpre-WiMAX equipment, the market focus also was on fixed or portableuse, while Richardson says the installation of mobile WiMAX equipmentin cities like Atlanta will broaden the potential subscribers.
“We’llsee a good set of subscribers who want broadband on the go, and we’llcontinue to have households plus wireless enthusiasts,” he says. “Todaythe majority of our customers have been household customers with asmall but growing number of users taking our PC cards.
“In thefuture, what we believe will be compelling will be a home-and-awaybundle that includes customer premises equipment, residential VoIP asan add-on for a flat fee, and a PC card for mobility.”
Clearwire started offering VoIP in 2007, and about 10% of its subscribers now use the voice service.

Richardson Backgrounder                                                                                                 As                                                chief strategy officer, Scott Richardson drives Clearwire’s mobile                                                wireless broadband efforts, WiMAX strategy, technology investment and                                                field trials.                                                                                                                                                During two                                                decades in the wireless and chip industries, Richardson has worked with                                                all of the big-name leaders to define and shape the WiMAX standards                                                with the goal of delivering next-generation wireless broadband networks                                                around the world.                                                                                                                                                Before                                                joining Clearwire, Richardson was a 20-year veteran with Intel. There                                                he led Intel’s broadband wireless business. Before that, he served as                                                vice president of Intel’s Mobility Group and general manager of the                                                company’s Service Provider Business Group, where he was responsible for                                                creating the IEEE 802.16 standard and delivering the company’s silicon                                                products for WiMAX-certified wireless equipment and access devices.

Oneof the questions Richardson gets asked a lot these days is whether ornot Clearwire and Sprint Nextel will get back together on anetwork-sharing deal. Sprint scrapped an earlier deal last November asit reconsidered its WiMAX strategy and the launch of its Xohm network.
Richardsonsays the two operators continue to talk about different strategies,which could include network sharing, basic interoperability, roaming,or even something like joint billing. “A lot is in their hands,” hesays of Sprint.
A deal with Sprint has no impact on Clearwire’sbasic strategy, though, he says. The company still plans on offeringservice in the top 100 markets and that won’t change.
What aboutEurope? Richardson says Clearwire owns a lot of spectrum that can beused for WiMAX in Europe. It plans to use pre-WiMAX equipment in Europeuntil it finishes building out the United States. It also is seekingpartners, which could include investors.
During the years he hasspent as a WiMAX advocate, Richardson says he learned one fundamentalfact about any wireless technology – success is not about thetechnology itself but about the applications and services it provides.He sees that as his mission now, to deliver services and devices usingWiMAX but also to drive innovation.
“WiMAX delivers a level ofperformance that creates a whole new platform for applications,” hesays. He cites as an example a demo during Clearwire’s investor daywhere attendees were driven down a highway in a small van that had aplasma TV mounted in it. They were able to download videos while alsowatching streaming video.
“Even though the use case is notviable, there is something about sitting in the van and being able todo that as it drives around,” he says. He thinks mobile WiMAX initiallywill be the mobile Internet, but that it creates an environment for newuses and applications.