Clearwire has announced plans to reduce the amount of TD-LTE sites it will deploy by the summer of 2013. The new number will be 2,000 sites. The halving of their plans comes as their retail sales are lackluster, and their wholesales channels are under-performing. Analysts have made not of their transition away from WiMAX. With reported losses of $320 Million Clearwire wants to realign their capital expenditures with the expected revenues it will receive from Sprint. Sprint just announced their off-beat subscriber growth yesterday. There will be no changes in Sprint's newly bolstered position in Clearwire. The subscriber reduction to one of Clearwire's largest wholesale channels is most likely largely responsible for this announcement.
Via Wireless Week
Sprint announced their third quarter results during a conference call this week. The results show that Sprint has lost 423,000 subscribers during this quarter. Sprints focus this quarter has been preparing the shut down the Nextel iDEN network. Sprint maintains that the benefits of the CDMA network vastly outweigh what they would gain by maintaining the antiquated iDEN network. This year 9,600 iDEN sites have already been taken offline, and a complete shut down is estimated to come in the middle of 2013. Sprint recently fortified their position in Clearwire by increasing the their stock position by $100 Million to provide 50.8% ownership of the available stock assets. Clearwire is planning to provide 5,800 TD-LTE sites by mid 2013, that Sprint will use to eschew data from their own network. CEO Dan Hesse did not provide much insight on the offer from Softbank to purchase 70% of the company, but made statements leading some to believe that Softbank may fund their spectrum acquisitions.
Via Fierce Wireless
Clearwire has expanded their network yet again. Their 4G standard WIMAX is now available in Minneapolis, MN and Pittsburgh, PA. Customers are currently being offered a free WIMAX device, with free shipping, and activation. Customers that get in on this promo will also take advantage of a 50% savings on their first two bills.
After months of rumors flying around the internet, Clearwire finally has
confirmed suspicions that they are going to deploy an LTE network.
Armed with massive spectrum holdings Clearwire is prepared to start LTE
trials using Samsung base station equipment, and Huaweii receivers. The
company made it clear that they are not abandoning WiMAX and expects LTE
to add to their portfolio. Clearwire considers themselves to be
technology agnostic even after the pro WiMAX arguments they issued with
the launch of their first 4G network. Clearwire will be using 40 Mhz of
paired channel spectrum (2 channels matched at 20 Mhz each) in an FDD
(Frequency Division Duplex) configuration. This is twice the amount of
frequency in matched channels they are using for WiMAX. Speeds are
expected to reach real world per-user-speeds of 20-70 Mbps. Clearwire
took the opportunity to fire a shot across the bow of Verizon mentioning
that their expected speed will be significantly faster than the expected
5-12 Mbps of other deployments.
Clearwire shareholders have approved the merger of their WiMax services with Sprint's Xhom. The FCC has already approved the merger. Both companies expect this merger to close by year end.
Today the FCC decided in favor of Sprint and Clearwire approving their merger with a unanimous vote. The FCC refrained from using the usual bench marks on this merger, as both parties are not entering the market with spectral holdings, and the new entity does not compete directly with any other entity. The commission, instead, focused on the possible positives and negatives that this would bring. The commission agreed the biggest winner in the approval of this merger is the consumer. The merger will bring new innovative services, while up-holding the FCC's high regard for openness and choice for consumers. Handset manufacturers, Venders, and Content creators will not need to seek permission to innovate, instead the insert a WIMAX radio, and submit the device to the FCC for approval. As a condition of this mergers approval Sprint must voluntarily terminate their high cost universal service support over a period of 5 years. They must also submit to county regulation for E911 compliance rules set by the FCC.
Cell Geek Live Blogged this commission meeting. To be taken to the event replay click the link below.
CellGeek Live Blog Event: FCC Commission Meeting November 4th, 2008
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After starting considerably late, the meeting was finally underway. Please find the compete replay of our live event available below.
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Sprint and IPCS are at it again. You may remember IPCS from the Sprint Nextel Merger debocle. IPCS is again claiming that a deal involving Sprint is going to violate their non-compete clause. Sprint and Clearwire are currently working together to build a nation wide WiMax network as a joint venture. Sprint has also filed a suit of their own against IPCS in Deleware.
