Wither Wires For WiMax

August 5, 2008

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AT&T is a force of nature, with local phone service in 22 states and the largest cellular phone network in the country. But it is also a company saddled with old technology and infrastructure. AT&T’s legacy copper Copper Wire phone lines are old, fragile, and in constant need of repair. But with more people forgoing local phone service in favor of cellular phones, there are fewer users to share the maintenance costs of all those copper lines, making them incrementally less lucrative for AT&T.

So, what’s a corporate behemoth like AT&T to do? If new Chief of Technology, John Donovan, has his way, some of those wired lines may give way to WiMax. He is also looking at the use of Femtocells.

Of course, there is a lot that could come between Mr. Donovan and his wireless dreams - mainly capacity issue and RF interference. If WiMax can’t achieve a level of quality and reliability similar to wired services, then it doesn’t have much chance of gaining acceptance in corporate circles. Once those issues have been addressed, WiMax could be used to deliver high speed voice and data to residential and business users.

Eventually, copper will be replaced by wireless in areas which don’t maintain the density of users to make copper viable. Requirements for faster and faster service will also force the replacement of copper with fiber optics. Copper’s high price has also made it a prime target for thieves looking for valuable scrap metal. All of these issues make copper less attractive to a phone company trying to break into faster data and wireless services.

And John Donovan isn’t alone in his quest, new AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson is also quoted as saying that “We’re all about Wireless.” AT&T has had huge success with their cellular operations and it would only make sense for them to explore the possibilities of killing wired lines in areas where they no longer make sense.

Time will tell what withers the wire and when.

Written by Todd · Filed Under Telecom, WiFi