Clearwire expanding footprint with Sprint 3G; taps Ciena for backhaul

Ciena’s director of product solutions marketing, Taylor Salman, said Clearwire’s launch represents a turning point in Ethernet backhaul. So far, Ethernet’s reach into the mobile network has been extremely limited by both the lack of fiber connections to cell sites as well as the requirement that cellular operators support their legacy time division duplexing (TDM) infrastructure. But the advent of 4G networks changes the game, Salman said. Enormous capacity demand necessitates high-capacity links to the cell site, and the lack of a circuit-switched voice components means 4G operators can start fresh.

“This is the first real 4G deployment,” Salman said of the Clearwire launch. “They have the advantage of developing a pure IP network. They don’t need to support a legacy architecture.”

Ethernet will become far more prevalent in the network as other operators start their 4G deployments, Salman said. Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ, NYSE:VOD) has been the most aggressive of the traditional cellular operators, announcing an agreement with its parent Verizon Communications to feed carrier Ethernet and fiber connections to 90% of its cellsites in the next five years in preparation for its rollout of long-term evolution (LTE) networks. Other operators will soon be making similar decisions, Salman said, either sooner—by upgrading their existing backhaul networks to handle current increased 3G loads and future 4G traffic—or later—by building a separate IP backhaul network for 4G.“We’re definitely just starting out,” Salman said.

Clearwire has gradually released the name of key vendors for its massive buildout, starting with Motorola (NYSE:MOT) and Samsung as its primary radio access vendors. Clearwire has also tapped Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) to build its IP core, Amdocs as its billing, mediation and customer management services provider, and Mformation as its device management platform supplier.