WIMAX offers broadband alternative to DSL, Cable Internet access

[mandy]

On Dec. 18 and 19, two wireless upstarts—NextWave and Clearwire—filed to go public with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Based on their S-1 forms, both companies hope to make their fortunes on WiMAX, a broadband-wireless technology expected to start making significant inroads in the telecom market next year. Market researcher Gartner Dataquest expects the North American WiMAX services market to swell from 30,000 connections in 2006 to 21.2 million by 2011.

What's the appeal of WiMAX? The wireless technology could provide consumers with a new source of high-speed broadband services, threatening to displace digital subscriber lines (DSL), cable modems, and today's slower cellular and Wi-Fi services. For WiMAX operators, product suppliers, and software vendors, the technology represents a huge opportunity to shake up the telecom market—one that Clearwire and NextWave are hoping investors will be quick to appreciate...

full article: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/c...581789.htm