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Does Forsee's Departure From Sprint Mean Mobile WiMax Is Dead?Does Forsee's Departure From Sprint Mean Mobile WiMax Is Dead?
A few months ago, Sprint <a href="http://www.information.com/blog/main/archives/2007/06/sprint_might_sp.html">flirted with the controversial idea</a> of spining off its <a href="http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm.jhtml;jsessionid=ECZRZFCD5ESFIQSNDLOSKH0CJUNN2JVN?term=WiMax&x=0&y=0">WiMax</a> unit. Well, now <a href="http://www.information.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=Y4TVGT2NHBOJOQSNDLPSKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=202400130">Sprint's CEO is out</a>, and it looks like Sprint's
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A few months ago, Sprint flirted with the controversial idea of spining off its WiMax unit. Well, now Sprint's CEO is out, and it looks like Sprint's WiMax plans are up the in the air. Is Sprint thinking about abandoning WiMax?At the time of the proposed spin-off in June, Sprint tried to reassure the public that the company was dedicated to the future of WiMax.
Well, right before Sprint announced that Gary Forsee was out, the company confused matters about its possible WiMax venture with Clearwire. Here's a look at that move:
Cusick said that he upgraded Clearwire's stock in July based on the deal with Sprint. He believed that Sprint's backing would help Clearwire become cash-flow positive. However, with Sprint struggling with operations and the potential for a new management team, Cusick said, he believes that Sprint is likely to "de-emphasize" the WiMax business. This will "shrink the ecosystem" for Clearwire, he said.
Cusick said he still believes that WiMax is "real" and an "eventually viable technology," but he doesn't think it will see significant momentum until late 2008 or 2009. The joint Sprint-Clearwire network was expected to reach 100 million people by the end of 2008.
This doesn't look good for either Sprint or for the short-term future of its proposed WiMax network. Wall Street is backing away from both Clearwire and Sprint, and the Street's enthusiasm for WiMax is on the wane.
On top of this, Sprint likely will bring in very shortly a new executive team eager to distance itself from former CEO Forsee's legacy. Don't forget, a big part of Forsee's legacy was his enthusiasm for WiMax.
I don't know if Sprint will totally abandon its WiMax plans, but I do think there's a big chance that the company will downgrade those plans for 2008. I wouldn't be surprised if we hear that Sprint plans to push many of its deployments well into the end of 2009. If this happens, you could see all the hype that's been building around the future of WiMax deflate pretty rapidly.
What do you think? Will Sprint abandon its plans for WiMax? Will Sprint just downgrade those plans, or will the carrier steer its current course to completion?
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