Intel (INTC) management is forecasting that WiMax will reach 150 million potential customers by 2008. By 2010, that number will hit 650 billion with 1.3 billion being the figure by 2012. Just five short years.
There are already 400 commercial deployments of WiMax around the world.
If the numbers are even close to reality, the investment that Intel has made in developing chips for the technology and investing in WiMax firm Clearwire (CLWR) may pay off big. Ditto Motorola (MOT) which is making infrastructure investment for supplying equipment for deployments.
But, the biggest winner may be Sprint (S), which is betting almost its entire future on building a US WiMax network that will reach 100 million potential customers by the end of 2008. Sprint is using the technology in the place of more conventional 3G such is supported by firms lead by Qualcomm (QCOM).
With Sprint losing ground to Verizon Wireless (VZ) and AT&T (T) Wireless, it needs something to get back into the game. If WiMax is about to become a large global success, having the largest footprint in the US would be a big plus for the cell service firm.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
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