New York: Sprint Nextel Corp said on Tuesday it will spend up to $3 billion over two years to build a high-speed wireless data network using WiMax technology in a bid to capture new growth from emerging mobile services.
Sprint will work with Motorola, Samsung Electronics and Intel Corp to develop the network that can cover whole cities and facilitate everything from video downloads to internet surfing.
Sprint's plans could deal a blow to Qualcomm, which bought into a rival technology. Its choice comes as the wireless industry tries to fuel growth by stoking demand for new services while phone call prices decline.
Sprint said it would spend about $1 billion on the network in 2007 and between $1.5 billion and $2 billion in 2008. The company aims to launch advanced wireless broadband services in trial markets by the end of 2007 and be available to as many as 100 million people in 2008.
"Imagine accessing YouTube.com and MySpace.com literally on the fly," Sprint Chief Executive Gary Forsee told a news conference, referring to the popular online video and social networking sites.
Diverse applications
Applications for WiMax could span such diverse technologies as DVD players, digital music players and even medical diagnostic devices, Forsee said.
WiMax can blanket entire cities with high-speed wireless connections and is a longer-range version of the popular wi-fi technology used to connect to the internet in public spaces like coffee shops.
Samsung executive Tom Jasny said that Samsung would be a 'major supplier' for the project supplying network infrastructure as well as devices including cellphones and consumer electronics devices such as video or music players.