Sprint and Google Team Up on WiMax

Google and Sprint Nextel announced Thursday that they will team up to develop a portal to let consumers search the Internet and mingle on social networks using mobile devices that work on a new, ultrafast WiMax network. The deal makes Google the exclusive provider for Web search on the portal and the preferred provider of Internet chat and e-mail. Google also will be providing mobile ads, along with its search results, and sharing the revenue with Sprint. Sprint, the third-largest wireless carrier by subscribers, said it will begin testing the new WiMax network in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., by the end of the year. Commercial service will start in April and be available to 100 million people nationwide by the end of 2008, the company said. Sprint announced plans in August to invest up to $3 billion in the new WiMax network. WiMax has a range of up to 10 miles and can transfer data at speeds similar to cable and DSL. Sprint said its new network should offer speeds of up to 4 megabytes per second -- more than twice as fast as the average broadband connection in California. "The idea here is that Sprint is the pioneer and leader to create mass-market mobile services," said Bin Shen, Sprint's vice president for mobile broadband. "This deal helps us start on the journey." For Google, the deal brings additional distribution for its mobile products, noted Craig Mathias, principal analyst of wireless research group Farpoint Group. "Google is very interested in getting greater exposure across the board," Mathias said. Carriers have blocked applications from Google and other Internet companies from running on certain phones. In the spring, T-Mobile users were upset to discover that Gmail no longer worked, for instance. Sprint already has announced partnerships with Intel, Samsung and Motorola, which are expected to develop devices that will work with the new network. Sprint also announced last week that it would team up with Clearwire, a start-up founded by communications pioneer Craig McCaw, to build the network. Sprint's goal is to blanket entire cities with WiMax coverage -- and the deal with Google could give consumers something to use on such a network, such as online productivity applications like Google Calendar. Shen said Sprint would also have a "friend finder" application and video chat, though he declined to say who the provider would be. He said it would not be Google. Despite the deal, Sprint said Microsoft would continue to be its preferred provider for local search on its regular handsets. WiMax represents a potential threat to cell phone carriers because it could enable upstarts to offer low-cost phone service via a WiMax network. But Sprint Nextel has chosen to embrace WiMax as a way to expand its ability to serve heavy volumes of data to its own consumers.