Clearwire already uses Microwave at many of their locations. but it can only handle so much. But with TWC and Comcast they can drop fiber direct to the tower and avoid costs to all LECs no matter who it is. The key to this would be to make a good share of the network hard wired and all go into those locations where Fiber is not an option direct to the Tower by microwave with that the network should not have a problem.
But with the microwave- it only goes so far as well. Especially when Clearwire's service is so spread out.
Yes, TWC and Comcast fiber is a big benefit here... Sprint's nationwide wired network is nothing to dismiss lightly, but in a lot of areas where TWC and Comcast are the local cable company this will make the new Clearwire's life that much easier.
...and a hit for the telcos- one wonders how much they get from Sprint for T1 lines to their cell sites, which could now be replaced with cableco lines.
...and a hit for the telcos- one wonders how much they get from Sprint for T1 lines to their cell sites, which could now be replaced with cableco lines.
From the PR releases, the Cable Coes wont have anything to do with Sprint except with Sprint EVDO/Sprint Voice being a backup and filling in coverage gaps with new clearwire (implying there will be dual mode Sprint CDMA/Clearwire WiMAX handsets branded for Cable Cos). I havn't seen any formal cooperation to improve Sprint CDMA network with cable cos, but Sprint has done backhaul by cable cos before
the deals with TWC being at Sprint cell sites was an agreement well before this. Several years ago in fact when TWC started rolling out Digital Phone. And well before Clearwire is where they're are today. Everyone here bases things off the news articles and PR pages for things that happened even 2 years ago which you're not going to find in a PR that was written for a totally different product say--even 2 days ago.
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