Business in brief: Comcast unveils wireless Internet

PHILADELPHIA – Comcast is rolling out wireless Internet service Tuesday in Portland, Ore., with plans to add three other cities by the end of the year.

Comcast is the first major cable operator to roll out wireless broadband. The service offers speeds of up to 4 megabits per second and is carried over the 4G network of Clearwire Corp., where it’s offered. Elsewhere, it will use Sprint Nextel Corp.’s 3G network coast-to-coast.

Comcast High-Speed 2go Metro service is on promotion for $49.95 a month for a year and includes Comcast’s wired Internet home service and a Wi-Fi router. The regular price is about $73 a month. The national version, using Sprint, costs $20 a month more.

Comcast plans to offer the service in Philadelphia, Atlanta and Chicago later this year.

Jobs on the job at Apple Inc.

SEATTLE – Apple Inc. co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs is back at work after a five-and-a-half-month medical leave, during which he received a liver transplant.

Jobs, 54, is working from Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters “a few days a week” and working from home the remaining days, Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said Monday.

The Apple chief was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer. He had surgery in 2004 and announced then that he was cured.

Last year, Jobs’ dramatic weight loss prompted new questions about his health. In early January, he said in a statement that he was suffering from an easily treated hormone imbalance, but less than two weeks later Jobs said his medical condition was more complex than he initially thought. He announced he would take a leave of absence until the end of June.

Airport reports passenger drop

Spokane International Airport boarded 16.1 percent fewer passengers in May compared with May 2008 as the weak economy continued to discourage travel.

Spokesman Todd Woodard said 124,316 passengers took flights out of Spokane, compared with 148,245 a year ago.

So far in 2009, 1,192,042 passengers have boarded, down 15.8 percent from last year’s 1,415,205.

May activity at Felts Field declined 8.5 percent compared with May 2008, but operations for the year so far remain ahead of the pace for 2008.

Freight traffic at both airports remained below 2008 levels.

Woodard said the resumption of direct service to Chicago and San Francisco may improve comparisons when June figures are announced.