Clearwire Communications today officially launched its Clear mobile WiMAX service in Atlanta, its largest market to date.

The company says service is available to nearly 3 million people across about 1,200 square miles in the Atlanta area.

The Atlanta launch brings Clearwire’s mobile WiMAX markets to three, with service in Baltimore, Md., and Portland, Ore. Next stop: Las Vegas, where it plans to launch later this summer.

The Atlanta launch event today included plans by Clear and Intel to provide dozens of embedded WiMAX laptops based on Intel Centrino 2 processor technology, as well as netbooks based on Intel Atom processors, to Atlanta Public Schools before the start of the next school year.

The company says some 3G wireless networks typically deliver download speeds of between 1.0 and 1.7 Mbps, but Clear customers can expect to see download speeds of 4 to 6 Mbps with bursts exceeding 15 Mbps, surpassing even the peak theoretical speeds of 7.2 Mbps in upcoming 3G upgrades. In Atlanta, Motorola supplied the area-wide WiMAX radio system.

Home Internet service plans start at $20 per month, while mobile Internet plans start at $40 per month, or customers can buy a day pass for $10. Deals also are available for customers purchasing both home and mobile Internet services or signing up for a two-year service agreement. 

Clearwire expects to bring service to 80 markets and up to 120 million people by the end of 2010. Some of the additional markets planned to launch in 2009 include Chicago, Charlotte, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Honolulu, Philadelphia and Seattle. Markets planned to launch in 2010 include New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Houston and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Telecom analyst Jeff Kagan said he’s been using the Clear service in Atlanta over the last couple weeks, and so far, it “works great.”