I first met Victor Schnee in the early 1990s, when he was proposed the then-outrageous idea that the incumbent telephone companies should be divided into separate retail and wholesale units. This was not even the first of his wild thinking -- in 1976, he and co-author Walter Gorkiewicz had forecast the breakup of AT&T in a massive study, “The Future of AT&T.”

Schnee would go on to found Probe Research, as well as other companies, and to make other predictions, many of which came true. He foresaw the merger of SBC-Ameritech and the building of mega-competitors as well as the current tension between the traditional telco-cable incumbents and Internet interests such as Google.

In general, Schnee is a big-picture thinker, able to dive in and do the kind of analysis and forecasting that creates ripples, and he's done it again. Partnering now with 30-year telecom veteran Alfred Boschulte, the former CEO of Nynex Mobile who has held numerous positions coming up the Bell ranks and later in the wireless industry, Schnee has turned his attention to WiMAX.

Because of our previous associations, I tend to listen when Schnee talks. He and Boschulte are now arguing that WiMAX is well-positioned to be the disruptive technology that creates a third broadband platform, provides true convergence of fixed and mobile services, opens up wireless to device independence and generally changes the competitive landscape.

In “The WiMAX Explosion,” the pair detail why, with proper marketing, a service provider can use this technology to undercut both cable and telco service bundles and deliver real choice to consumers.

That may seem like a bold claim, but some of Schnee's previous forecasts have been on target. You can read part one of my report on this latest effort today, and part two on Wednesday of this week, and make up your own mind if he's right this time around.

E-mail me at cwilson3@telephonyonline.com.