WiMAX service on hold for two area schools

By Bryan Gentry

Published: June 18, 2008

Two local schools have put on hold the selection of a company to bring a new wireless Internet service to Lynchburg.

A Liberty University official said the deal is waiting for Sprint and Clearwire to complete the formation of their new, national WiMAX network.

Meanwhile, discussions with other service providers that have expressed interest are ongoing.

A WiMAX system is an emerging wireless Internet technology that offers better security and signal range than WiFi.

In February, Liberty University and Virginia School of the Arts announced a partnership to bring the service to Lynchburg.

Each school had some licenses for broadcast channels — formerly used for educational television — to lease out.

They were looking for bids from companies that could provide free or low-cost wireless Internet access to Liberty students plus regular access to other Lynchburg area residents.

Matthew Zealand, Liberty University’s chief information officer, said in an e-mail that Clearwire placed a bid for the project earlier this year.

On May 7 Clearwire and Sprint announced a joint venture to combine their WiMAX business segments to create a new company.

Zealand said the university wants to wait and see what the new company wants to do with the proposal that Clearwire submitted.

“Some time is needed for the two companies to sort out responsibilities and assets,” he said. “Once enough time has passed for them to be engaged, we plan on speaking with them about their proposal.”

A document from the Liberty University’s Information Services says there is no deadline for choosing a provider, but “discussions with several bidders are taking place.”