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 advance of $350 million paid over a two-year period for Access to Clearwire’s forthcoming LTE capacity. This will allow Clearwire to pay off its debt without derailing plans for its LTE network. That said, Sprint needs LTE just as desperately, so it only makes sense that Sprint would cover for its struggling partner. → 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 during the past few years. China Mobile’s forthcoming TD-LTE network runs on the 2.5 GHz frequency, which (what a coincidence!) matches up rather nicely with Clearwire’s own LTE licenses. Their partnership hinges on the development of multi-mode devices that could see use in either market. → 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 cost you $149. Connectivity is provided via Clearwire’s previously existing 4G network (in most areas) but it’s still compatible with their 3G network as well. Download speeds will range from 3 to 6 mbps, with a maximum burst speed of 10mbps in the Puck device. You can pick up either device from Best Buy, your local Clearwire store, or online at the Rover website. Click through the jump to see the press release. → 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 Texas markets, including Abilene, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Waco and Wichita Falls. → 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 wireless isn’t quite as plentiful as in Seattle, may find wireless broadband a more compelling option, and pretty soon you’ll be able to get it through Comcast in a few choice areas. I find it interesting that Comcast says they’ll be offering the service, when really they’re doing no such thing. They’re offering Clearwire’s service and splitting the bill. At any rate, if you have Clearwire in your area, chances are you’ll soon be able to get it through Comcast and bundle it with your TV and stuff for a better price. Portland will be the first to see the service, so you Oregonians can do your little victory dance. I’ll wait. The service, called “Comcast High-Speed 2go Metro” because someone thought that was a good idea, will run you $73 a month, but call now and you can get it for $50, a savings of $23(RIP Billy Mays)! You can also throw down an extra $20 to get access to Sprint’s 3G network. Not my style, though. For a blogger, the internet is his leash, and if you’re carrying it around with you, you’re never off. That’s assuming we’re ever really even on. → 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 (just look at Time Warner’s stock.) Instead of the $20 billion that Google’s five percent stake valued AOL at teh time of its original investment, its new writedown now values AOL at $5.5 billion.
The Clearwire writedown isn’t surprising either. That is the Wimax company that had disaster written all over it. → 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 Paul Otellini to lean on his buddy Schmidt. Otellini himself pledged $1 billion of Intel’s money towards the venture because he has made a big bet at Intel on selling WiMax chips. He also happens to sit on Google’s board. I don’t know if any of the above happened or not. What I do know is that Google came reluctantly to the table and that for a long time the deal was being blocked internally at Google for some very good reasons. The main reason is that WiMax as Clearwire is deploying it is not a very good replacement for mobile broadband services. It is, above all, a fixed wireless solution. What it replaces is wired broadband services to homes and offices delivered through cable and DSL. That is how Clearwire is selling it today. But to get Google (and Comcast and Time Warner Cable) to put up the cash, Clearwire had to promise it would build out a richer mobile broadband service as well. This is why Google invested—to bring the broadband Internet to mobile devices (some of them hopefully running the Android operating system). And it is why Comcast and Time Warner Cable invested. They don’t need a replacement for cable broadband to people’s homes. They need a wireless offering to fend off AT&T’s and Verizon’s incursion into their television market. (It’s all about who has the better bundle). Everyone is enthralled with this idea of WiMax as a disruptive wireless mobile broadband alternative. Even Neal Cavuto couldn’t stop waxing about the wonderful wireless future that this deal represents. I wish that it were true. But here are a (more) few problems: 1. Clearwire and Sprint have not yet proven that WiMax is a viable business even for fixed wireless. Clearwire lost $727 million last year, nearly five times more than its total revenues. And it is projected to lose increasingly more over the next couple years during the expensive growth phase of its business. Moreover, the uptake of the service in the 50 or so cities → 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 devices in general, and his daughter’s technology habits in particular, rather than analyze the viability of the deal. → 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 shareholders will control 27% of shares. Contributors to the $3.2 billion investment will receive the remaining shares. “The agreement enables us to get to market faster and reach a broader audience than we could have if we went alone,” Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel’s chief executive officer, told analysts during a conference call Wednesday. Clearwire will focus on building a mobile network based on WiMax technology. WiMax has faster download speeds and better indoors coverage than most current service provider’s technology. Some also see WiMax as a competitor to fixed-line broadband. Clearwire currently uses WiMax to provide wireless Internet service in some parts of the United States. In 2007, Clearwire had a subscriber base of nearly 400,000 broadband customers. The restructured company has the goal to develop a network that has the potential to reach 120 million to 140 million people by the end of 2010. Service providers like AT&T and Verizon Wireless aren’t planning to use WiMax technology, Instead, there are upgrading current networks and working on future technology called Long Term Evolution. → 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. Clearwire hopes for a US WiMAX deployment of 120 million to 140 million people by 2010. The boards of all companies have signed off on this deal and should be sealed in Q4. Clearwire’s current CEO Benjamin Wolff will continue to lead the pack while Sprint’s CTO Barry West will serve as president. → 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. Google is very clear about why it invested—to ensure that the resulting broadband network is as open as possible and accepts Android handsets and devices. It also sounds like Google may also be the default search engine on devices connected to the network. This morning, it explains all of this on the Official Google Blog: In addition to our $500 million contribution as part of the investment group, we will provide search and applications to the network’s users, and will work with Clearwire to offer additional services and applications. This will include jointly creating an open Internet protocol to work with mobile broadband devices (including Android-powered devices) and implementing other open network practices and policies. We believe that the new network will provide wireless consumers with real choices for the software applications, content and handsets that they desire. Such freedom will mirror the openness principles underlying the Internet and enable users to get the most out of their wireless broadband experience. As we’ve supported open standards for spectrum and wireless handsets, we’re especially excited that Clearwire intends to build and maintain a network that will embrace important openness features. In particular, the network will: (1) expand advanced high speed wireless Internet access in the U.S., (2) allow consumers to utilize any lawful applications, content and devices without blocking, degrading or impairing Internet traffic and (3) engage in reasonable and competitively-neutral network management. Google desperately wants access to future wireless broadband networks of all stripes and sizes,but it wants to avoid having to build and operate its own. Deals like this show that it is willing to pay to play. If Clearwire should ever go bust, though, that’s $500 million down the drain. → 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 run by Clearwire and take its name. As I said before, this is a disaster waiting to happen. Sprint and Clearwire need the deal to try to salvage the billions they’ve already sunk into their money-losing WiMax networks. But putting more cooks into the kitchen with different WiMax aspirations is not going to help. Google wants more wireless broadband alternatives for its planned mobile apps and advertising. Whereas the cable companies want a way to compete against mobile phone operators encroaching on their turf. As I wrote last March: WiMax is a promising technology and these are early days. But even an extra $3 billion won’t be enough. Building out a nationwide WiMax network could cost as much as $8 billion to $12 billion. And there could be more technical hiccups. I can see why Google might throw its hat into the ring here—anything to promote more broadband wireless networks. But Comcast and Time Warner Cable should stay away. The logic behind the investment seems to be that the cable companies could use the WiMax network to counter the moves by Verizon and AT&T into their turf (with TV service over phone lines). It is being suggested that the cable companies would be able to launch their own white-label mobile phone and high-speed Internet services over WiMax. Here’s where that logic breaks down: Verizon and AT&T have a huge head start and customer lock-in when it comes to cell phone service. WiMax mobile phones would take decades to chip away at that even if they do offer faster data speeds. Today, Clearwire is only offering at-home phone service, not mobile. As for broadband Internet and home phone services, Comcast and Time Warner already compete effectively against the phone companies today with their alternative services over cable. I hope that I’m wrong and that this new consortium will bring cheap WiMax to us all. Because the technology is very promising. Unfortunately, the business is not. → 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 backed by AT&T and Verizon, among others. The partnership would also include Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Intel and would likely take the form of a joint venture. It could be announced as early as tomorrow morning. Sprint needs to trim some fat, but at the same time it needs to get its WiMAX network, which it’s already spent billions of dollars on, on its feet. Clearwire’s already in operation in many markets across the country, and by joining together both the networks and billing, it can do both. → 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 Bright House Networks chipping in another $100 million to $200 million. Google’s another possible funding source as well. → Read More
