Will soon-to-be President Obama put WiMAX on top? - FierceBroadbandWireless

Reports indicate the president-elect is considering a broadband plan funded from of the Universal Service Fund, better use of the nation's wireless spectrum, promotion of next-generation technologies and new tax and loan incentives. Business Week recently reported the new Obama administration wants to put $20 billion to $30 billion into broadband buildout initiatives through these tax incentives.

The stakes are high for Intel and its quest to see mobile WiMAX succeed. It has invested $1 billion in the new Clearwire (the largest single investment Intel Capital has made), led standards bodies, built chips, funded early network development and pumped a lot of money into WiMAX vendors and operators to make sure this technology has a global footprint.

The hope is that computer manufacturers will see WiMAX is big enough to incorporate the technology into laptops, thus increasing the demand for its chipsets. But first, Intel needs to see a widespread interest in mobile WiMAX to drive interest in WiMAX-enabled laptops and other devices. So far, Intel has made a lot of investments and spoken of many ambitious plans, but has had difficulty driving the vast deployments it seeks.

Will soon-to-be President Obama put WiMAX on top? - FierceBroadbandWireless