Bet you didn't see this one coming. With everyone's eyes fixed firmly on Sprint's supposedly forthcoming US WiMAX deployment in Baltimore, Chicago and Washington, DC, DigitalBridge Communications has snuck in to steal a little of the spotlight. As we speak, America's "first" (um, really?) mobile WiMAX deployment has gone live in Jackson Hole, Wyoming courtesy of Alvarion's BreezeMAX gear. The firms are hoping that high-brow tourists that come to tackle the black diamonds of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort will also bring their WiMAX-enabled device and / or WiMAX card to send enviable photos back home, but only time will tell if folks find value in the offering. DBC is expected to expand the network's reach in the area (which currently hits 3,000 homes and businesses), and then "add mobile capabilities throughout its 200,000-household footprint."

[Image courtesy of TerryDreams]

Even as Sprint tentatively rolls out the XOHM network here in the States, the largest Indian telecom company is planning to build a mobile WiMAX network covering three states on the subcontinent capable of serving 250 million people. State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is leaning on Soma Networks to build the broadband-speed network in response to government requirement that 20 million broadband lines be in service by 2010. The WiMAX rollout will first hit the largest and most-connected states, but BSNL is planning on extending the network if things go well. Soma says it's shipping thousands of base stations to get the network operational at full speed, and that when it's done, 400 Indian cities will be covered, with downstream speeds of 1.5 megabits per seconds. No word on when that might be, but the race is officially on, Sprint.

Despite rumor and conjecture to the contrary, Sprint's XOHM-branded WiMax service plans are alive and well. Well enough to soft-launch anyway. The Chicago, Washington D.C., and Baltimore pipes will all go live "in the next few days," according to Ben Shen, VP of Product Management and Partnership Development. Official launch is still (somewhat) expected for Q2 2008. Business as usual while they court prospective financial suitors, perhaps.

While Sprint teases us with their beleaguered WiMax offering, Samsung is already shipping product for KT's and SKT's year-old WiBro service in South Korea. In fact, they've already moved onto their second generation of devices available starting today. The list includes the SPH-9200 HSDPA, WiFi, and Mobile WiMax totin' butterfly XP device we've seen before. New, is that pair of SPH-H1300 and SWT-H200K USB Mobile WiMax modems and CDMA SPH-M8200 candybar running Windows Mobile 6 on EV-DO and Mobile WiMax data beneath that biggie touchscreen display. Now please Google, just cut to the chase and acquire Sprint so that we can get a taste of that high-speed mobile data on a homegrown frequency, too. Pretty please, with sugar?

[Via AVING]

It's just a rumor, in fact, it feels more like speculation than anything backed by a reputable source; still, there's a Google / Sprint buzz getting a lot of play this morning. Rich Tehrani is reporting that Google is considering an acquisition of Sprint Nextel in order to grow its mobile business. Of course, Google has long touted the importance it places on mobile ad revenues, made all the more evident by their recent preparation for the 700MHz auction and the figurehead role Google now plays in the Open Handset Alliance's Android platform. Sprint, for its part, is already on good terms with Google as a member of the OHA and that WiMAX mobile services deal which Clearwire just bailed on. In fact, it's access to that beleaguered WiMAX network which has the pundits in such a tizzy. While we'd love to see Google in a deal with Apple, Intel, Motorola and others to bring mobile broadband to the masses, we're filing this one under musings from Neverland until the rumor firms up a bit.

[Via GigaOm]

Part of the WiMAX World festivities taking place this week, Motorola was on hand in Chicago last night to demonstrate fragments of the Mobile WiMAX build-out it's been throwing together to support the upcoming launch of Sprint's Xohm service. A leisurely cruise took curious onlookers down the Chicago River while Moto demonstrated a variety of WiMAX-friendly goodies like VoIP and streaming video, with handoffs flawlessly (apparently) transitioning the signal from access point to access point amongst canyons of skyscrapers, steel, and cement. The company also took its demo onto the "streets along the Chicago River while driving at speeds beyond 50 mph," a clear violation of local traffic laws, so we're hoping Moto's got some money socked away in its meager coffers to pony up some fines. Anyway, if all goes well, the demos foretell a late '07 soft launch of Xohm's Chicago network, with a commercial release in April of next year.

The dream of true untethered broadband connectivity is nearly upon us dear US-American readers. Last night, Sprint and Motorola teamed up to do a live demonstration of Sprint's Xohm-branded, mobile WiMax service on the Chicago River. Fortunately Ars Technica was there to take all the 4G action in for the benefit of mankind. An impromptu benchmark courtesy of Speedtest.net clocked the 802.16e WWAN network at more than twice the speed (in both directions) of Verizon's EV-DO Rev. A network. In fact, Ars called their Xohm experience "far superior" to Verizon's speedy EV-DO service...

The WiMAX train is starting to pick up steam -- and with services like Sprint's XOHM scheduled to launch in the next year, we're expecting to see a lot more devices like Motorola's CPEi 300 WiMAX modem hit shelves. The company is showing off the wireless broadband modem at the WiMAX World conference in Chicago this week, and seems bullish about targeting the "unserved or underserved" with the device. The unit features one "data port" (we're guessing Ethernet) and two RJ-11 ports for VoIP access, and runs on the 802.16e "Mobile WiMAX" standard. We'd love to know when we'll be able to buy this thing and how much it's going to cost -- or even just what it looks like -- but it looks like we'll have to wait a bit to find out more.

[Via TG Daily]

It's been some time since Airspan kicked out a new device enabling laptop (or desktop, for that matter) users to hop on the Mobile WiMAX highway, but that's changing thanks to its recently-unveiled MiMAX USB. This USB 2.0 dongle "turns any laptop into a high performance Mobile WiMAX client," and it marks the first product in the Mobile WiMAX MIMO family. As with the 16eUSB that came before it, this gizmo allows users to connect to "virtually every Mobile WiMAX network that is deployed worldwide," and supports "all of the target Wave 2 MIMO Mobile WiMAX certification profiles (2.3GHz, 2.5GHz, 3.3 - 3.8GHz, and 4.9 - 5.8GHz)." Furthermore, the MiMAX USB even plays nice with licensed and unlicensed frequencies, and if you're looking to detect WiMAX networks before flipping on your machine, the optional MiMAX Finder should do the trick. Sadly, there's no mention of a price just yet, but we've got a feeling those details could be loosed during next week's WiMAX World USA in Chicago.

The Xohm website is now hot, making yesterday's rumor pretty incontestable at this point. Although seeing a press release would really seal the deal. The teaser site simply states that Xohm is coming in the Spring of 2008 and promises to "expand the internet experience" to a new class of internet enabled devices. Right, a bit later than "by year-end 2007" which Sprint was originally touting. We'll update you with the press release which we expect to pop any minute now. With any luck, we'll also learn how to pronounce their new mobile WiMAX brand.

Update: Ah ha! As reader Deluxe points out, it's pronounced "Zome" as in Rome. Had to bust out Firefox since the audio won't play in Safari.

Update 2: The Press release is out. The "end of 2007" soft launch is still expected for Chicago and Baltimore / D.C. markets. Lucky you, John Waters.

Ok, it's only a temporary gig but check out the "Sens e-train" offered to Seoul's subway jockeys over the next few days. The kids at Samsung and Korea Telecoms have fitted two cars from Seoul's number 2 line train with a dozen WiBro-enabled Samsung Q45 laptops and Q1 Ultra UMPCs. The hippest trip in S.Korea is operational (and free) from 1100 to 1700 daily until August 19th. We're just wondering what's more impressive: high-speed data while blasting along the underground rails or the lack of any visible organic excretions in a subway car. Either way, there's no chance in hell of this working in New York City.

Sprint's open mindedness to hooking up with Clearwire for a national WiMAX network has blossomed into something just a little more serious, it seems. The two companies have announced that they'll be collaborating on making mobile WiMAX a reality in a comprehensive agreement that covers roaming and combined marketing efforts under a single to-be-announced brand name. Specifically, Sprint will be responsible for covering about 185 million potential customers with Clearwire swooping in for another 115 million over the next few years; 100 million total are expected to be covered by the end of 2008, which is curiously the exact same number Sprint had been throwing around on its own accord before the agreement was announced. This is a pretty serious deal, too -- the two are bound in holy matrimony for at least 20 years with options for up to three 10-year renewals. Looks like that hot WiMAX smartphone from Palm might still be in the cards, eh?

Fresh from showing off its Mobile WiMax wares at the recent 3GSM conference, Samsung's now providing some of its gear to the U.S. Army, who's apparently considering the speedy wireless technology for possible military use. Unsurprisingly, neither party is spilling a whole lot of details on the arrangement, with Samsung only saying that the Army's Communications Electronics Research & Development Engineering Center (or CERDEC) will spend several months evaluating the equipment, measuring the performance of both mobile users and mobile base stations in a military environment, among other undisclosed things. What is fairly clear is how eagerly Samsung will be anticipating the results, as Korea's Hankook newspaper speculates that a deal with the U.S. military could be worth as much as $3 billion for the company.

As if you weren't already feeling cheated by your data plan, Samsung comes along and launches a few Mobile WiMax MITs (Mobile Intelligent Terminal) devices in S.Korea: their SPH-M8100 WinMo 6.0 cellphone and SPH-P9000 (pictured) all-out convergence thingamajig. That's right, 12Mbps or about 2-3 Mbps when traveling up 120-KPH (75-MPH). While the Mobile WiMax (or WiBro as it's hailed in its Korean home) service isn't country-wide yet, Korea Telecom's offering does cover the 10M+ people scooting about Seoul and its southern suburbs including 17 universities and 4 subway lines. How S.Korea pulled a 19 ranking on the technology superpower list still has us scratching our heads.

This isn't the first time we've seen Samsung's SPH-M8100. Remember, this is that crazy WiBro (mobile WiMax) phone sporting a dedicated RSS key (upper-right button on that Korean keypad). Only now, it's been slightly retooled for its official Korean launch. Besides the facelift, it appears unchanged spec-wise as a member of Sammy's elite MITs (Mobile Intelligent Terminal) family of devices. So it still packs the latest CDMA and EV-DO radios and DMB mobile television only now wrapped up in a pretty Windows Mobile 6.0 interface. Bluetooth, 2.8-inch display, and 2 megapixel camera still come standard. With any luck, we might see this rollout on Sprint's WiMAX network someday, somewhere. Yeah, right.