Sprint bets $3bn on 4G WiMax network

Sprint Nextel plans to spend $3bn over the next two years to build a fourth-generation wireless network using WiMax technology.

The wireless operator said on Tuesday it is partnering with Intel, Motorola and Samsung Electronics to build the network and develop devices that will access it.

Sprint executives said during a press briefing in New York the company plans to spend about $1bn on the network in 2007. It will spend another $1.5bn to $2bn in 2008. The new fourth-generation, or 4G, network is expected to go live in the fourth quarter of 2007. About 100 million people will have access to the network by the end of 2008, the company said.

Sprint's announcement of the 4G network comes about a year after it started offering service over its third-generation network based on EV-DO technology. Sprint announced last week it plans to expand and upgrade its existing EV-DO network to a faster version of the technology - called EV-DO Revision A. The company plans to have EV-DO Revision A available to 40 million consumers by the end of this year.

Gary Forsee, Sprint's chief executive officer, said the jump to 4G is not a replacement for Sprint's 3G network but will help the company develop a new market for advanced wireless services. Forsee said Sprint envisions a future when a whole slew of new devices - such as music players, video recorders and portable, low-cost PCs - will attach to the wireless network to allow consumers and business users to access content instantaneously over the mobile internet.

Forsee said during the press conference: "The 4G network will be four times faster than today's EV-DO network. And at these speeds, it's all about lighting up new devices. Imagine accessing YouTube.com and MySpace.com literally on the fly."

Sprint's 4G network will support average download speeds of between 2Mbps and 4Mbps, Forsee said. And because it can transmit over greater distances and in a wider spectrum band, the company expects the cost of the network to be much less than its current cellular technology.

In fact, Forsee said the chipsets used in the WiMax network are one-tenth the cost of chips used to build its 3G network. The fact Sprint already owns a large portion of the 2.5GHz spectrum in the US that is used to deliver WiMax also helps the economics, he added.

He said: "The cost performance on the 4G business model and the throughput gains, plus the cost of putting these chips into cameras, gaming devices and other consumer electronics, is what makes it different from EV-DO Revision A."

Motorola and Samsung will supply infrastructure to build the network. They'll also develop devices, including mobile phones and consumer electronics products such as video or music players, that will be used to access the network. Intel will provide technology for laptops and other computing devices.

Intel and Motorola have long supported WiMax technology. Last year, the companies announced a special agreement to work closely together to develop new products and promote the technology worldwide. The companies were also very involved in developing mobile WiMax standard 802.11e, which was finalised last year.

Sprint's decision to go with WiMax could be a blow to Qualcomm, which has been pushing a technology it acquired last year from Flarion that competes with WiMax. Sprint also tested Flarion's technology along with technology from a company called IPWireless.

Marguerite Reardon writes for CNET News.com