Los Angeles named among new 4G markets for Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel Corp. has named Los Angeles and six other U.S. markets as places where the companies plans to expand 4G wireless service later this year.

The company on Tuesday said it will offer its WiMAX-based services in Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Miami, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City and St. Louis. Sprint earlier this year said WiMAX was coming in 2010 to Kansas City, Boston, Denver, Houston, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco and Washington.

Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR), based in Kirkland, Wash., is building the 4G network and selling services under its Clear brand. Sprint, a majority shareholder in Clearwire, and cable partners Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) resell the service in Clearwire’s markets under their own brands.

WiMAX is similar to WiFi, but its signal can cover an entire city instead of just a coffee shop or airport. It can provide download speeds comparable to a wired Internet connection.

Sprint (NYSE: S) this week is expected to unveil a mobile phone, to be for sale this summer, that works on both the 4G and current 3G networks. The company already sells 4G-compatible data cards for laptops and the Overdrive Mobile Hotspot, which can provide a connection with 4G speeds for as many as five WiFi-enabled devices.


Source:bizjournals.com/