WiMax Goes Mainstream (MOT)(INTC)(QCOM)(S)(CLWR)(WAVE)

Two WiMax companies are planning to go publc: Clearwire and NextWave. The technology is hot now. Sprint is adopting it for next generation cell infrastructure. The technology is in trials in a number of countries and Seoul is already blanketed by the new tech.

WiMax has the early promise of efficiently competing with high speed broadband including cable and DSL.

Clearwire has already raised $900 million primarily from Intel and Motorola both of which have significant technology they will market as part of WiMax infrastructure. The Clearwire IPO would plan to raise $400 million.

Research firm Gartner expects there to be over 21 million WiMax connections in North America by 2011.

NextWave's CEO was a former board member of Qualcomm. WiMax phone services, like Sprint, are viewed as a threat to Qualcomm in the 3G phone industry.

If WiMax works as well as some expect it will, cable and telecom companies may have a headache.

Douglas A.McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.