A dramatic turn of events in the ongoing story of U.S. carrier consolidation: Dish Network is launching a $25.5 billion bid for number-three carrier Sprint, amounting to $17.3 billion in cash and $8.2 billion in stock. If successful, the deal would effectively snatch Sprint out of the hands of Japanese carrier Softbank, which in October announced that it would pay $20.5 billion for a 70% stake in… → Read More
Say what you will about Dish Networks, but the Colorado company’s brass has some moxie. The satellite media service provider has been trying for years now to link up with notable national wireless carrier to help operate a mobile service to sell alongside its current offerings, and according to a recent report from Bloomberg, Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen has approached T-Mobile parent… → Read More
Sprint today announced that it has arranged an agreement with Clearwire to buy out the remainder of the smaller company for $2.2 billion, or $2.97 per share. The final price is at the top of the reported ceiling put on the total cost of the acquisition reportedly placed on the deal by SoftBank’s chairman. SoftBank’s 70 percent investment in Sprint made the deal possible, and this arrangement will… → Read More
Sprint’s attempted purchase of Clearwire may have hit a snag, according to a new report from Reuters. Sprint reportedly has a hard cap on how much it can offer to buy out the beleaguered Clearwire, set by Softbank, which is purchasing a majority stake in Sprint for around $20 billion. Clearwire shareholders, however, reportedly think the offer price on the table isn’t high enough, and the rising… → Read More
Earlier, it was rumored that Sprint was considering a buy-out of the remaining 48 percent of Clearwire shares it didn’t own, after the pending Softbank investment in its company promised to deliver it enough cash to negate the adverse effect of taking on Clearwire’s money-losing financials. Now, Bloomberg reports that Sprint is indeed looking to buy, in a deal worth about $2.1 billion according to… → Read More
Sprint is said to be in talks to gobble up the remaining 49 percent of Clearwire it doesn’t already own, according to new reports from CNBC and the Wall Street Journal. The deal is meant to sort out issues that Sprint has had in steering the decision-making process of Clearwire’s business, sources told the WSJ, and it would help Sprint acquire the spectrum rights currently owned by Clearwire. → Read More
The founders behind Karma (no, not that Karma) think that there’s something fundamentally broken in the market for mobile providers. And they’re hardly alone. So, the TechStars grads set out to create a new format, one that eschews the traditional subscription model for a pay-as-you-go approach to mobile bandwidth.
In an effort to realize their vision of providing anyone and everyone with a… → Read More
Clearwire’s WiMax network. Without it, Clearwire would have had to choose between paying up on a $237 million interest payment or continuing to build out its LTE network — a necessity in terms of competition for both Clearwire and Sprint.
The deal consists of Sprint paying $926 million for unlimited 4G WiMax services between 2012 and 2013. In the meantime, Sprint is also pledging an… → Read More
WiMax network operator Clearwire may not be long for this world if they don’t make the the right decision about a looming debt payment. Bloomberg reports that the company owes $237 million in the form of an interest payment due on Thursday, and the wrong choice could spell the end of the beleaguered network operator. → Read More
Back in the heady days of the late 1990s, it seemed like everyone and their cousin was trying to break into the ISP business. NetZero once made a name for themselves thanks to their claims of free internet access, and now the company has struck a deal with Clearwire to start selling mobile broadband service under the NetZero name. → Read More
It’s no secret that Clearwire is looking at rolling out an LTE network of their own here in the States, but a recently announced partnership could bring them some big support from overseas. The 4G internet provider has inked a deal with state-owned China Mobile to collaborate on the development of new TD-LTE devices.
TD-LTE is a network standard that China Mobile has been working to implement… → Read More
Wow. Clearwire has just dropped a bit of a bombshell today, so I’ll spare you my usual theatrics: the operators of the nation’s first 4G network, having sensed the momentum that its LTE rival is gaining, has announced that they will add “LTE Advanced-ready” technology to its previously WiMax-only 4G service. → Read More
Clearwire launched their Rover – pay as you go internet service today, offering unlimited usage for $5 a day, $20 a week, or $50 for a month of 4G service. The Rover service is accessed via one of two ways, either from the Rover Solo; a single system dongle, or the Rover Puck which allows connectivity with up to eight devices at a time. The Rover Solo dongle sells for $99, and the Puck will… → Read More
Sprint, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks (to name a few) continue to bet big on Clearwire’s WiMAX nationwide wireless network. The foursome have just pumped an additional $1.494 billion into Clearwire’s coffer, with another $50 million coming from Intel and $20 million from Eagle River Holdings. CHA-CHING. → Read More
Yesterday, Clearwire announced the expansion of its CLEAR 4G WiMAX Internet Service to 10 new markets, bringing the total number of markets served up to 14 with coverage for over 10 million users. This is good news for all the WiMAX fanboys and girls out there, and especially for those who reside in the Lone Star state. The newly serviced areas include: Boise, Idaho; Bellingham, Wash.; and eight… → Read More
Do you find yourself out and about in the city enough that you hardly use your broadband at home? Neither do I, since said broadband is usually downloading the latest this-and-that while I’m gone, but it might be nice to have a “second line” of high-speed internet for when I don’t want to compete with 20 other people for a cafe’s wi-fi. Others, in cities where free… → Read More
Google just released fourth quarter earnings. Net Income was down a whopping 68 percent to $382 million (compared to $1.2 billion a year ago), primarily because of a $1 billion impairment charge related Google’s ownership stakes in AOL (for which it took a $726 million writedown) and Clearwire ($355 million writedown). We all know why the AOL stake is worth less than what Google paid for it… → Read More
Jeez – busy enough day, FCC? Hot on the tails of the “white space” decision and approving Verizon’s buyout of Alltel, the FCC has cleared the merger of Sprint’s Xohm WiMax service with ClearWire – no doubt coming as a disappoint for some other carriers. To recap the details announced back in May, Sprint will own 51% of the new company, which will take on the… → Read More
The more I learn about the $3.2 billion deal announced earlier this week to salvage Clearwire’s and Sprint’s WiMax businesses by merging them together, the more I am convinced that someone got snookered. And that someone was Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Maybe he just can’t say “No” to visionary billionaires like Clearwire chairman Craig McCaw. Or maybe McCaw got Intel CEO… → Read More
Erick appeared on Fox Business last night to talk about the recent $3.2 billion WiMax deal between Sprint Nextel and Clearwire that’s expected to go through. He tries to discuss the questionableness of the deal from a business standpoint despite the promises of WiMax as a technology. However, there’s clearly some frustration that Cavuto would rather talk about the future of mobile… → Read More
Intel won a piece of the Swedish airwaves and announced today that it plans to develop a nationwide WiMax network. Intel paid $26 million for a 15-year license and hopes to make money by selling microchips that a WiMax network will need. Intel business developer Carl-Daniel Norenberg said the company is looking for partners to build and operate the network, but that Intel will rent out the license… → Read More
Clearwire and Sprint Nextel announced today that the two companies will collaborate to create a new telecommunications company with assets starting at $14.55 billion. The venture is to be called Clearwire and will receive a $3.2 billion investment from Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House Networks. Sprint Nextel will control 51% of shares in the new company. Existing Clearwire… → Read More
As expected, Clearwire and Sprint have announced that they’ve merged to become a $14.55 billion wireless comms company. The newly formed company will be called Clearwire with Sprint Nextel having a 51 percent stake while Clearwire will control 27 percent. Another 22 percent goes to Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks in return for their $3.2 billion investment. → Read More
Google wants to usher in the world of wireless broadband so much that it is willing to spend vast sums to make it happen. It bid more than $4.6 billion in the recent FCC spectrum auctions (which it ended up not having to pay because it lost to Verizon), is backing the WiFi 2.0 initiative, and today it announced that it plunked down $500 million to shore up the new Clearwire-Sprint WiMax business. → Read More
The deal to combine Sprint Nextel’s and Clearwire’s fledgling WiMax businesses that was rumored last March is finally expected to go through. Comcast and Intel are supposed to put in $1 billion each; Time Warner Cable, $550 million; Google, $500 million; and regional cable provider Bright House Networks, $100 million. The new company, which will be valued at $12 $14.5 billion, will be… → Read More
Speaking of Xohm, Sprint’s WiMAX initiative, rumors are swirling around Wall Street that Sprint will announce a partnership with Clearwire tomorrow, unifying their two disparate networks as one nationwide WiMAX network. This is fantastic news for WiMAX fans and a step in the right direction if the technology is going to take on competitor LTE, or Long Term Evolution, a wireless standard… → Read More
In order for Sprint and Clearwire to really get this WiMax thing underway nationwide, they’re going to need some pretty substantial moolah — like $3 billion. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, would put up as much as $1 billion, while No. 2 Time Warner Cable would add $500 million” along with smaller cable operator… → Read More
WiMax is going nowhere fast but that is not stopping a consortium of cable and tech companies from considering a plan to invest $3 billion more into a proposed bailout-through-merger of Sprint Nextel’s WiMax business (known as Xohm) and Craig McCaw’s Clearwire. The consortium that is reportedly being put together would include Comcast ($1 billion), Intel ($1 billion), Time Warner Cable… → Read More
Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel’s new CEO and the man in charge of turning the troubled company around, said in a conference call yesterday that Sprint’s still exploring the possibility of a WiMAX partnership with Clearwire. “Sprint has an enormous asset—nearly 100 megahertz of un-utilized spectrum—and we have the opportunity to have a three-year head start with our Xohm service… → Read More
It appears a new Nokia tablet is making the rounds in the rumor mill and this one comes WiMax-enabled. We’ll see what happens at CTIA in April. WiMax N810 Leaked, To Be Announced At CTIA? [via Into Mobile] → Read More
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