4G Marcom Watch
By Emma Hancox, Marketing Director
Contact the author at emma@maravedis-bwa.com

Spotlight: Clearwire's Atlanta WiMAX Launch

On June 16th Clearwire officially launched its second its Clear™ 4G mobile WiMAX service in Atlanta, Ga. Clearwire has committed to launching several more markets before year’s end, and word has it that Las Vegas is in soft launch already – we can expect to see the red carpet rollout there later this summer. Clearwire had actually been running its WiMAX network in Atlanta for six weeks already, but decided the time was right to officially launch the service in the metro area, accompanied by a large-scale marketing blitz (including a hot air balloon – see photos from the event below). Moving forward past launch day, Clearwire is going to need a lot of grass roots marketing in order to get awareness out and let citizens know that other options are available besides Comcast & AT&T, who both spend millions all over Atlanta to maintain their dominant market positions.

Subscriber growth has been strong in Portland thus far, with an estimated 15,000 and 20,000 new WiMAX subscribers to date in the first Clear service market. Although the US WiMAX service has been slow to come into being, momentum has built since Sprint and Clearwire teamed up, receiving funding from major cable operators, Google, and Intel.

Like its first WiMAX network launched in Portland last year, the Clearwire network in Atlanta runs on Motorola radio infrastructure equipment, and bundles service with consumer access devices from Motorola as well. To date, all of the upcoming Clear-branded WiMax markets are being powered by Motorola. “Clearwire has quickly become the leading provider of mobile WiMAX service worldwide with the launch of Clear service in its Atlanta market,” said Fred Wright, Motorola senior vice president, Home & Networks Mobility. “Using Motorola's desktop CPEi 150 and our award-winning USBw 100 adaptor, Clearwire customers in Atlanta now can enjoy high-speed broadband access in their homes or offices, or stay connected with their laptops while on the go.” Both the USBw 100 and CPEi 150 are data-only devices that operate in the 2.5GHz frequency band.

The new Atlanta market is served by more than 400 cell sites that utilize Motorola's WAP 400 and WAP 450 Diversity Access Point products. This infrastructure uses a very compact cell site configuration significantly smaller than traditional cellular infrastructure products. Motorola has also been supplying Clearwire with its pre-WiMAX Expedience devices and infrastructure, giving customers in 46 US markets access to wireless broadband service.
Clearwire is going to need a lot of grass roots marketing in order to get awareness out. Comcast & AT&T spend millions all over Atlanta to the point you don’t know that other options exist.

Here are some photos from the Atlanta launch day:

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For more information you can contact the author at emma@maravedis-bwa.com

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