Comments on: "Last Mile Revolution: Rural WiMax Broadband"

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:57:00 +0000

Actually, I believe this stock is AirSpan Networks (AIRN). I received this same teaser about six months ago. The teaser I had received referenced comments Bill Gates had made regarding the company… the comments they referenced matched a press release I had found on the WiMax Forum website. AirSpan is a founding member of the WiMax forum. FYI, too, that they just signed a deal with the Rural Utility Service and they have the Sprint/Clearwire connection. Stock trades at roughly 2.25, and also has an options chain.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 02:00:00 +0000

WiMax may be a viable if belated competitor to DSL and cable in towns and cities, but is not likely to meet the expectations in rural areas, for the inconvenient reason that reliable microwave broadband communication requires line of sight. This means closely spaced base stations or very tall towers, neither of which are economically attractive in those rural areas. Furthermore, the user equipment must include a microwave power amplifier and hence will be fairly expensive too (just look at satellite internet access).

By: One Guy

One Guy — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:54:00 +0000

I don’t have anything against Alvarion, but as I understand it they’re an equipment maker, not a service provider — actually, the equipment makers in this space might be a more compelling investment than the providers like KeyOn, but I haven’t gone deep enough to figure out the competition in that area. Thanks for the comments.

Oh, and on the second part — there are a couple broadband-by-power-line companies, one of which probably matches the second teaser, I’ll try to take a look sometime soon.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:16:00 +0000

What ? No mention of Alvarion who are way ahead of everyone

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:35:00 +0000

A bunch of the carriers that are pushing WiMax over 3G LTE (Long-term Evolution) are the second-tier players like Sprint/Nextel (rather than AT&T, Verizon, etc.). That does not mean WiMax will not succeed, just that they are going to need a picture-perfect launch, with no hitches, for this to catch fire. Once that happens, VZ & T will all fall in line.

At least as important is that Intel, which has made a HUGE investment in WiMax, also succeeds in putting WiMax chips into every portable in the next 24 months. Just like the Centrino kicked off a huge upside in WiFi growth, if Intel is able to do the same for WiMax, the entire ecosystem of infrastructure and service providers will benefit hugely. And would juice their recovery, while leaving AMD further behind.