Sidecut Reports

While the continuing explorations by Dan and Om about potential backhaul hurdles for 4G wireless are required reading, I wonder if the lack of available front-end spectrum — that is, the spectrum used to deliver services to end-users — is going to be a bigger concern going forward, especially for those providers planning to use the recently auctioned 700 MHz spectrum.

One slide that stuck with me during my research for our recently released Sidecut Report on WiMax is one from Clearwire, copied below, that shows the relative spectrum width available for current 3G networks, 700 MHz networks, and WiMax networks, which right now in the U.S. is mainly the spectrum at 2.5 GHz (where Sprint and Clearwire have most of the licenses).

The question raised here seems to be whether or not the planned 700 MHz deployments will be able to scale to handle multiple numbers of users, and how much bandwidth each user will get. With 3G nets already running into capacity problems, the answer may not be as large as the pre-delivery hype may suggest.

For more information on WiMax, please purchase our inaugural Sidecut Report, titled Xohm Or Go Home: Why 2008 Is WiMax’s Breakout Year in the U.S. — Or Else! You can buy the report via direct download by clicking on the blue box to the right.