The recent news that Sprint and Clearwire are back in talks for some form of WiMAX joint venture revealed an interesting potential minority partner – Best Buy. Conventional thinking suggests that Best Buy is interested in a joint Sprint/Clearwire WiMAX effort in the hopes that it fuels a surge in demand for consumer electronics devices that will connect to the WiMAX network. Best Buy would love to fill their stores with eager buyers of said equipment. But they may have a more interesting motive as well.

Best Buy purchased Speakeasy in 2007, indicating their interest in the service provider market. Perhaps Best Buy is looking to expand their role as either a service provider themselves, or to ensure their service provider subsidiary has a WiMAX path. Speakeasy is squarely focused on the small and medium business market with traditional wireline products right now. But I’m sure they would welcome a viable WiMAX solution to broaden their scope and appeal. The future may see an opportunity for small businesses to interact with Best Buy and be offered a completely integrated and bundled communications package, including equipment, connectivity, and applications. Having a minority role in a nationwide WiMAX network only strengthens this possibility and it’s potential impact on the competitive landscape.

There is speculation fueled by a Wall Street Journal article (subscription required) that Sprint and Clearwire have resumed negotiations to jointly build a nationwide WiMAX network. Of course the issue with this is money. It costs a heck of a lot of it to bring a new technology like WiMAX to market. Clearwire is not big enough to do it alone, and Sprint investors don’t have the stomach for it, considering the debacle caused by the Sprint-Nextel merger.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Intel, Google, and Best Buy have joined the discussions as possible investors. Makes logical sense for all of them – they all stand to gain should a WiMAX a nationwide network prosper. It is a risky proposition considering the other 4G alternatives that are out there, namely LTE, which both Verizon and AT&T have hitched their wagon to. WiMAX has at least one advantage if all of these identified players get there act together and get moving. WiMAX could conceivably get a head start on LTE, and Sprint might be able to get some of their “mojo” back. They’ll need it to compete over the long term with Verizon, AT&T, and even T-Mobile. Right now, they’re looking like a wounded fish in a tank full of sharks.

Best Buy subsidiary Speakeasy will launch ADSL2+ service, targeting the small/medium business market. Speakeasy OneLink™ will have download speeds of up to 8, 10, and 15 Mbps, and upload speeds of up to 1.0 Mbps. The service will be deployed in eleven key markets – Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC – for an installation cost of $149 and monthly prices starting at $149.95, depending on speed.

Earthlink recently announced a retail strategy that offers their municipal wireless broadband and other solutions through an unnamed retail partner. Utilizing a retail channel is increasingly becoming required to compete in today’s landscape. Both telecom and cable carriers are leveraging retail relationships to their fullest extent. AT&T recently announced expanding the role of their wireless retail presence. Cable MSOs continue to utilize retail channels through the likes of Circuit City, Best Buy and others.

Carriers who fail to have a retail channel may be at a disadvantage. The problem may be more acute for smaller carriers who operate in areas where appropriate retail partners exist, but smaller footprint and scale make it difficult to forge retail partnerships. While other sales channels are available and extremely relevant, including the web, retail channels continue to be attractive and should be exploited wherever possible.

For more info on Earthlink’s announcement, read this TWICE post.