Network World's John Cox says Sprint CTO Barry West "sounds almost utopian" as he describes his company's vision of 4G over WiMax -- even suggesting that the pervasive wireless broadband technology could bring about world peace.

"It's hard to stay mad at people when you're in close communications with each other," West says.

"WiMax-based 4G networks will make possible pervasive, immediate, visual interactions that [West] believes will make for a better, and more humane, world," Cox writes.

And from a financial perspective, West says WiMax is also a no-brainer. "WiMax creates a 10-fold improvement in the price-per-bit," he says. "That is made possible by the fact it uses a wider channel."

"Sprint's plan is to have 100,000 points of presence enabled with WiMax service by the end of 2008," Cox writes. "The network will be an overlay on the company's existing CDMA EV-DO 1x cellular net. Subscribers will be able to use either network, depending on coverage and services, through network cards and eventually through integrated wireless interfaces."