OMS: We are not a telco, says Xohm

The two companies have operated as separate operators in the interim, and it’s still uncertain if the details of their service plans and business model will change when they combine. But based on Sprint’s launch in Baltimore, the new Clearwire would be very aggressive in challenging both wireline broadband operators as well as 3G operators. Xohm is charging $25 a month for a home broadband connection and $35 for a mobile connection, or pairing the two for $55, matching or undercutting the equivalent services offered by the ILEC s and mobile operators. In the case of the wireless operators, Xohm is not only undercutting their prices by $25 a month, but it is placing no restrictions on applications used or overall data consumed. Unlike the 3G operators, however, Xohm is nowhere near claiming nationwide coverage, a key selling point for mobile broadband services.

If the service proves successful, the new Clearwire could be faced with nightmarish congestion problems as more customers crowd the networks using bandwidth-intensive applications such as video streaming or peer-to-peer file sharing—the bane of the cable industry. Sprint and Clearwire haven’t spelled out specifically how they would manage such traffic surges, but in her keynote, Hanson gave some insight into how Clearwire’s operational model would give it some breathing room.

Much of the cost of delivering wireless broadband services to customers is unrelated to the operation of the network, she said. Clearwire will allow any device on its network, allowing the device manufacturers to market their wares themselves and sell through their own channels. Xohm doesn’t have to manage device skews, marketing or inventories; nor would it have to subsidize the devices. The service Xohm is supplying -- broadband access -- is much simpler than that of the wireless operators, she said. “By not taking ownership of those proprietary applications, the care and feeding requirement for our customers is much less,” she said.

Xohm also devotes all of its network resources to data. The majority of the 3G operators’ spectrum and infrastructure is still focused on its core voice services. Xohm has no voice business to protect, so there is no reason for it to restrict access to VoIP or devote resources to voice. Of course, by giving up on voice and those proprietary applications, Xohm also gives up on their revenue streams, but Hanson said that open model will eventually pay more dividends.