Analyst Paul Kapustka has published his latest Clearwire “Need to Know” (NTK) report filled with juicy tidbits on WiMAX uptake, new city launches, and new pricing schemes. I’m a big fan of the new trend toward affordable research, and it doesn’t get much more affordable than $4.95 for a professional analyst report. Some of the information is available in other places, if you’re willing to search for it, but much is unique, such as conclusions from Kapustka’s interview with Clearwire CEO Bill Morrow, and on-site observations from the Clearwire launch in Las Vegas.
Without giving the NTK content away for free, I will say that new Clearwire pricing promotions that I see here in the Philadelphia area are apparently part of a larger strategy to attract consumers to WiMAX service. I can now get a month of unlimited mobile WiMAX service, without a contract, for $22.50. That’s half off the regular price. The offer is only good for the next six months, but it could be enough to whet consumer appetites. Unfortunately, that service fee doesn’t include hardware or activation costs, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. (And if you happen to be like me, with an extra Motorola USB WiMAX modem lying around, well, so much the better…)
Clearwire service gets more appealing as it rolls out in major metropolitan markets, and the recent official and unofficial launches in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, and Chicago are important. The real test is to see where new subscriber numbers line up in Q4 of this year and Q1 of next. With big markets and big resellers (Comcast and Sprint) on board, WiMAX in the US should start taking off.
[...] On: WiMAX in Philadelphia Posted on October 13, 2009 by Mari Silbey The $22.50 price tag for WiMAX service proved too good for me to pass up. Today I am up and running with a Clearwire one-month contract. [...]