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David Maquera of Clearwire
Clearwire’s 4G wireless WiMax broadband service is currently available in 62 U.S. markets and reaches over 41 million people. By the end of 2010, 120 million people in the U.S. will have access to its wireless mobile service in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, the San Francisco Bay Area, Miami, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Additional cities include St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Washington, D.C. Nashville, Daytona, Orlando and more. Check the Clearwire website for a complete list.
Clearwire is also releasing two WiMAX smartphones this year–Android-based 3G/4G/WiFi devices by Samsung optimized for heavy video and video communications and another from HTC.
David Maquera, SVP & Chief Strategy Officer for Clearwire
As Clearwire’s SVP and chief strategy officer, David Maquera is responsible for Clearwire’s technology development, strategic planning and implementation.
Prior to joining Clearwire, Maquera was VP of Strategic Development for Cricket Communications/Leap Wireless. There he handled strategic initiatives that successfully drove the company’s growth, development of wireless broadband, mobile data products and strategic partnerships.
Before Cricket, he co-founded Backwire, a media and technology start-up later acquired by Leap. Earlier in his career, Maquera worked as a consultant with McKinsey & Company.
He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and holds an MBA from Harvard University.
Podcast Interview Content and Summary
- The growth of 4G mobile wireless services in the U.S.
- 250,000 new subscribers signed up for its service in the first quarter of 2010
- Average mobile broadband download speeds of 3-6 Mbps/10Mbps bursts are common; users are consuming up to 7GB of bandwidth per month
- Consumers’ overall positive experiences with faster Internet access rather than one particular application such as video are driving company growth
- WiMAX was the logical mobile broadband technology of choice at a time when LTE didn’t exist.
- Clearwire claims it’s “agnostic” to WiMAX vs. LTE and will choose the right technology to meet consumer demand
- The company is currently addressing its strategy for a change to LTE if it chooses to move in that direction
- End-users want a choice of broadband devices. Adopting one standardized technology in the U.S. would best serve consumer needs
- Partners–Sprint, Comcast, Time Warner, Intel, Google–see Clearwire as meeting different broadband needs of their customers
- Metered data use for smartphone users makes sense for carriers but consumers dislike the pricing strategy. Clearwire will deliver optimum bandwidth at a competitive price
- Clearwire sees itself as an enabler of M2M and other mobile broadband devices, such as Apple’s iPad
Other Articles About Clearwire and WiMAX
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