The McCaw factor

One of the wireless industry's best-known and least-known-about pioneers is at it again. At the WCA 2004 conference in Washington, D.C., this morning, a characteristically vague Craig McCaw announced his involvement in a new broadband wireless venture during an uncharacteristic keynote address delivered by the private and ever-elusive McCaw.

To summarize: It appears that McCaw has assembled his fabled group of followers in an attempt to take on telecom's heaviest hitters (i.e., extant broadband service providers) with an endeavor more than two years in the making. It is the result of spectrum accumulation and several acquisitions and will rely on newly refined--yet purposely unspecified--broadband wireless access technology.

Does that clear it up for you? Me either. The above explanation could easily describe one of many of McCaw's business ventures from the past several years. And based on his track record, I wouldn't hold your breath that this undertaking--especially the specific technological aspects of it--will be clearly defined any time soon. (However, Kevin Fitchard, our man on the scene at WCA, will report on the McCaw venture and provide his analysis in Telephony's June 7 print issue, so stay tuned for more details.)

Given Craig McCaw's absence from--or at least relatively low profile in--telecom and wireless industries of late, it's tough at this point to rate the significance of this kind of reemergence. But the fact that the broadband wireless sector has been hot on a comeback trail makes this development far more significant. Broadband service providers everywhere should stand at the ready: A formidable old competitor is back on the scene.

E-mail me at jmeyers@primediabusiness.com