Comcast Becomes WiMAX MVNO

The 4G quad play is coming later this summer when Comcast Corp. launches a WiMAX MVNO on Clearwire Corp.’s network in Portland, Ore. It plans to be in 80 markets with WiMAX by 2010.

When Sprint-Nextel Corp. spun off its WiMAX operations last fall to create a new mobile WiMAX company, part of the synergistic deal was a series of overlaying MVNO options. Sprint could resell Clearwire’s network and vice versa, and the venture’s other investors – which include four top cablecos – can make WiMAX part of their portfolio as well.

Comcast – which has $1 billion invested in Clearwire – is the first cableco to go down that path, and it’s unclear exactly what the service will look like. The WiMAX addition will give Comcast a powerful mobile broadband service to supercharge its existing portfolio of Internet and broadcast options. Comcast is also a VoIP provider of course, so it could offer VoIP over WiMAX to offer wireless voice to subscribers.

In any event, the development dovetails with industry predictions that subscriber uptake for WiMAX will be driven not just by Clearwire, but also its MVNO partners.