Brian Firth
October, 28, 2009
What’s this about Wimax as a Cell Phone Alternative?
Keep this quiet.. Clearwire, CLWR stock is down to $6.74 a pop and Wimax just scored a a decisive win in the trenches.
Wimax just got in the paint from a Geek’s perspective and investors are going to start doing touchdown dances like Ochocinco last Sunday.
Here’s some text by Fool.com that gets into more detail
Tm Beyers quotes:
Big ideas are at their best when they’re, well, big. WiMAX, a big idea backed by Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S), among others, got bigger yesterday, when three vendors, including Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR), successfully tested roaming in Taiwan, according to the WiMAX Forum.
The test is a breakthrough for two reasons:
- It proves that WiMAX is capable of becoming not only a wireless broadband standard, but also a cellular telephony alternative.
As we know LTE plans to utilize the existing cellular infrastructure. Wimax is the front runner in the high speed mobile Internet space. The better the standard can conquer it’s roaming limitations, the faster it can develop market share in time to dance with AT&T/Verizon when they launch their services in that space.
Another Article at Wimax.com:
Samsung and VMAX Demonstrate Industry’s First Mobile WiMAX Global Roaming Service
highlights the same concept.
In “Is Clearwire’s stock a buying opportunity,” Anders Bylund writes:
“By the end of 2009, Clearwire should be able to sell high-speed Internet services to 30 million potential customers from Honolulu to Baltimore. One year after that, the company targets 120 million American customers.” in another article at Fool, “Is Clearwire’s Drop a Buying Opportunity?” for Fool but later concedes that “I believe your portfolio would be better off with a traditional telecom stock like Verizon or AT&T.”
I respectfully disagree. Keep an eye on these guys. I wouldn’t bet against Wimax, right now. With Cisco & Intel, Samsung & Motorola, Time Warner & Comcast, and that little search engine, uhh… Google bought in, the sky is the limit for these guys. If LTE doesn’t answer back soon, the WiMax platform is going to hit critical velocity and we’ll have a winner.
In an article about the Taipei tests, here’s a quote from the WimaxForum.org that illustrates some of the applications the Taiwanese foresee as they test the standard on their metro in Taipai:
“ITRI will use information broadcasting to provide useful information for passengers and promote Taipei City Government services, such as live scenes from the zoo and other important activities organized by Taipei City Government. This will give passengers instant information, such as the tickets left for the Panda Pavilion of Taipei Zoo, weather forecasting, breaking news, and public promotion video from Taipei City Government.”
