First WiMax laptop card approved by FCC
San Francisco (IDGNS) - Regulators have approved the first WiMax wireless broadband laptop PC card to be offered by Clearwire, and it should be available to users later this year, the company said Tuesday. — The U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved …
Context & Ripple Effects
Clearwire, wireless pioneer Craig McCaw's latest venture, has been building toward this milestone: it raised $900 million in July 2006 to fund expansion of the wireless internet service it already targets at Seattle-area homes. FCC certification of a WiMax laptop PC card converts that capital into a shippable consumer product, which Clearwire says will reach users later this year.
The pickup outside IDG was thin — essentially Clearwire's own announcement — but the approval lands amid a broader FCC agenda: the commission confirmed in March 2007 that it was testing high-speed Internet over unused TV airwaves, with findings due in July. Regulators are therefore working several wireless-broadband paths at once, and a certified laptop card is the first consumer-facing result.
First-order effects
- Clearwire gains the first FCC-approved WiMax PC card, letting it extend a service previously pitched at fixed home subscribers into laptop-based portable broadband once the card ships later in 2007.
- Incumbent cable and DSL providers in markets Clearwire serves face a newly certified portable alternative, beginning in the Seattle-area footprint it already targets.
Second-order effects
- Chipset and laptop vendors get proof that a WiMax device class can clear FCC review, strengthening the case for building WiMax support into machines rather than relying on add-on cards.
- Equipment suppliers and tower operators gain an anchor customer: Clearwire's 2006 raise gives it committed capital to spend on network buildout ahead of the card's availability.
Third-order effects
- With the FCC due to report in July 2007 on using unused TV airwaves for broadband, device certification and spectrum policy are converging into a joint determinant of how far wireless can substitute for wired home Internet.
- If certified cards demonstrate real laptop demand, a fourth competitive pipe enters US broadband, pressuring carrier mobile-data pricing and potentially drawing more entrants down the same certification path.
The trend: Wireless broadband is shifting from fixed home service toward certified portable laptop devices, with the FCC's approval and spectrum decisions setting the pace of adoption.