Sprint's April WiMAX soft-launch on track, full-scale deployment at risk
Ready for untethered 3Mbps to 5Mbps downloads and 1Mbps to 1.5Mbps upload speeds while on the go? Us too, especially our Chicago-based brethren waiting for Sprint to properly soft-launch their Xohm service onto the nation. Backed by 50 or so WiMax exhibits with product on display at Mobile World Congress, Sprint's VP for technology development, Ali Tabassi, assured us that April would indeed see the fledgling Xohm service soft launch into Chicago, Baltimore, and the DC areas. However, he conceded that the billions required to reach the goal of 100 million subscribers by year end have not been approved. Sprint will at least cooperate with Clearwire -- a former Xohm partner -- on roaming agreements so that the two don't duplicate coverage. Come on Sprint, we know it's been tough for you lately as you bleed subscribers (and profits). But if you build it, we will come back.
