As Sprint Nextel prepares to launch its first commercial mobile WiMAX network later this month, more details have emerged of its plans for the service which has been branded Xohm. Barry West, president of the Xohm unit, says the firm is promising average download speeds of between 3Mbps and 5Mbps. He also confirms that end-user devices will be available at launch from Zyxel, ZTE and Samsung, with a handheld device from Nokia expected to be introduced soon after. The first Xohm network is due to be switched on in Baltimore by the end of this month, with networks in Washington DC and Chicago expected to be live by year-end. Boston, Philadelphia and Dallas/Fort Worth will be added early next year. Sprint has recently installed its 1,000th WiMAX base station and says it is now ahead of its original deployment schedule.

Source:telegeography