Excerpt
Ergen's solution to clogged data pipes has four requirements:
• Low-band spectrum for long distance coverage, which Sprint has.
• Bit-band spectrum for high data-rate usages, which DISH has.
• High-band spectrum for short distance urban use, which Clearwire has.
• A true global wireless broadband standard.
In the long run, item No. 4 may end up being the most important. Clearwire has been building its 4G network using the TDD-LTE standard. That's the same standard used by the nascent Chinese and Indian high-speed wireless networks. The AT&T (NYSE: T ) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ ) high-speed networks are built on the FDD-LTE standard.
If we're talking economies of scale in building smartphones, 2 billion subscribers would trump 200 million. That could give carriers using Clearwire's standard a handset pricing advantage.
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