Huge U.S. wireless project is a coup for Korean firm

After years of deliberation and much industry speculation, U.S. telecom firm Sprint Nextel selected mobile WiMAX, whose technology was developed by Samsung Electronics, for its wireless high-speed Internet infrastructure for millions of subscribers across the United States. The service will be available in most of the United States. Sprint said customers will be able to get Internet access almost anywhere within the company’s markets, using any portable device. The firm said the service will be four times faster than current Internet connection rates in the United States. In a press release, Sprint said Samsung Telecommunications America, Samsung’s U.S. affiliate, will be the main infrastructure provider of mobile WiMAX. Samsung has a package deal to provide Sprint with base stations, chipsets, handsets and consumer electronics such as multimedia players, in addition to being the primary infrastructure provider. Samsung said the project will create 270,000 jobs through 2012. Motorola will provide handsets and Intel will develop software and supply equipment to build the network. Sprint said it will invest up to $3 billion in the next two years to roll out the fourth-generation mobile network. Mobile WiMAX is a term equivalent with WiBro, a technology developed by Samsung. Right now, WiBro has only been commercialized in Korea. It can be used even in vehicles traveling as fast as 100 km (62 mph) Samsung currently has contracts to supply WiBro handsets and equipment with Japan’s KDDI, Brazil’s TVA and Italy’s TI for the trial services. Venezuela’s Omnivision will begin commercial services later this year. “I believe Sprint Nextel’s decision to deploy mobile WiMAX as the 4G [fourth-generation] network technology will set a milestone in the U.S. telecommunication industry’s history and contribute to further advancements in wireless technology,” said Lee Ki-tae, president of Samsung Electronics, in a press release. Sprint, the No. 3 wireless carrier in the United States, will deploy mobile equipment for mobile broadband in test phases beginning late next year, hoping to reach 100 million users in 2008. Many media noted Sprint’s announcement as Intel’s victory over the U.S. firm Qualcomm, which has a series of patents over yet another mobile Internet technology. Intel’s Centrino chips are needed in laptop computers to use mobile WiMAX. Industry analysts pointed out, however, that Samsung will be the only one developing chipsets for cell phones, since Intel recently sold its handset chip business to Marvell. by Wohn Dong-hee