Sprint: WiMax coming to Baltimore-D.C. area this year

It's full speed ahead for Sprint's revitalized Xohm network, as the carrier announces that at least one major U.S. market will get commercial WiMax service before the year is out.

Sprint execs just announced that wireless users in the Baltimore-Washington D.C. area will get first dibs on the carrier's planned WiMax network, which could eventually deliver ubiquitous wireless broadband from coast to coast.

BetaNews reports that Sprint just finished commercial testing for its Xohm network in the Baltimore-D.C. region, clearing the way (at last) for an actual commercial launch.

Don't expect WiMax-packing phones this year, however; instead, we'll probably see WiMax-enabled broadband cards and ultraportables, along with Nokia's recently-launched N810 Internet tablet.

We're still waiting on a WiMax timeline for the rest of the country, but it's looking like Sprint will indeed beat AT&T and Verizon Wireless—which are planning their own LTE broadband networks to compete with WiMax—to the 4G punch. LTE networks here in the U.S. aren't expected to see the light of day until 2009, at the earliest.

Sprint's shaky WiMax plans got a major boost earlier this month when it finally closed a deal with on-again, off-again wireless partner Clearwire, along with new partners Intel, Google, Comcast, and Time Warner, among others.

The deal gave Clearwire and the cash-strapped Sprint a much-needed $3.2-billion infusion for WiMax. Experts believe a nationwide WiMax network will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 billion.

Related:
Sprint eyes 2008 for WiMAX launch, ahead of AT&T and Verizon LTE [BetaNews]