Sprint, Motorola Band Together to Develop WiMAX Technology, Equipment

Sprint Corp. and Motorola Inc. said today they plan to work together to conduct joint wireless broadband technology testing and equipment trials in 2005 and 2006.

The companies say the collaboration will spur technology development for the IEEE 802.16e standard, or WiMAX, which Sprint previously has said it wanted to explore. They will do lab testing of base station equipment, smart antenna technology and multimedia handsets, and run some field trials. The outcomes of those trials will determine product rollouts to customers.

Telecom industry analyst Jeff Kagan says the deal paves the way for wireless companies to start offering wireless broadband connections for homes, offices and mobile devices. “Today we have to do business with a telephone company and a cable television company and a wireless company, but someday we will be able to choose one company to deliver all the services,” he notes. “In coming years I see at least three major competitive technologies we will have to choose from: telephone, cable and wireless, and they should all offer the same bundle of services, just using different methods.”