Clearwire Gets Snippy Over Verizon’s LTE Announcement

Verizon Wireless might be ready to rock and roll on its mobile broadband LTE network now that it has named its network suppliers, but WiMAX pioneer Clearwire Corp. seems unwilling to cede the 4G spotlight for the moment. It issued an official statement in response to Verizon’s announcement that contains more than a touch of attitude, noting that “not all 4G networks are created equal.”

In fact, LTE might just be a lesser animal compared with WiMAX, Clearwire insinuated. “Differences in spectrum holdings and underlying network architecture will deliver different user experiences,” the statement reads. “Today, Clearwire customers experience better speeds and bandwidth than what is being described as next year's LTE networks.”

Furthermore, Clearwire noted that it’s simply not rattled by having 4G competition of any stripe. In fact, it welcomes it: “Verizon's 4G deployment plans are a testament to the fact that the existing 3G networks simply won't support a rich 'true broadband' experience. The Internet has become an indispensable part of our lives, and consumers want to access it wherever they are – not just at home or in the office. Clearly, having more operators espousing the benefits of 4G can only serve to increase consumer awareness and demand for better services. This is a great place for Clearwire to be.”

The takeaway for Verizon and other LTE-focused mobile carriers could be summed up as: “Bring it on.”

Clearwire, while as yet behind in its deployment schedule for a nationwide WiMAX network, took as justification for its competitive posturing the fact that WiMAX continues to gain momentum globally. The WiMAX Forum says that WiMAX service providers cover 430 million people globally, and that will double by the end of 2010. More than 450 service providers now have active trials and deployments for fixed, portable and mobile use.