Where's the WiMax?

One of the things I'd hoped for at CTIA was big news on Sprint's promised WiMax network—maybe word of new partners, hard-and-fast national rollout dates, or something along those lines. Instead, all we got were...more promises.

Just a week ago, rumors were circulating that Sprint and on-again, off-again partner Clearwire were poised to announce partnerships with cable operators like Comcast and Time Warner and tech giants Google and Intel—partnerships that could have jump-started its still-percolating WiMax network, dubbed Xohm. (Check out Robin's primer for the WiMax basics.)

But Sprint's press event came and went on Tuesday without any major WiMax announcements, save some assurances from Sprint CEO Dan Hesse that the carrier will "move forward" with Xohm.

Of course, several WiMax gadgets were announced at CTIA, including the WiMax edition of Nokia's sweet N810 Internet tablet—but without a WiMax network for them to run on, they're not gonna be much use.

Even worse, there's word that this month's planned commercial launch for Xohm (in Chicago, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., where testing is already underway) has been delayed, with no new date in sight.

Sprint blames the delay on technical "logistics," but as the Washington Post points out, a national Xohm network is expected to cost upwards of $5 billion—and without help from deep-pocket partners like Google and Time Warner, it's not clear how Sprint will cover the bill.

That's the business angle, at least. From a gadget hound's perspective, it means that we're that much further away from getting a national 4G network. (AT&T and Verizon Wireless are planning their own 4G networks as well, using GSM-based LTE technology, but trials aren't expected to begin until later this year.)

So don't toss out your 3G phone or home Wi-Fi base station quite yet. And you might want to hold off on that N810 WiMax tablet.