Sprint, Clearwire Form New WiMAX Company

Clearwire Corp. and Sprint-Nextel Corp. are combining their WiMAX efforts to form a new $14.5 billion company, the two announced on Wednesday. They also said the new company would have 3G and 4G wholesale agreements with cablecos to bundle in Sprint’s wireless services. For in-depth analysis on the implications of this deal, read Spinoff Gives Sprint, WiMAX a Second Wind.

The new company will be called Clearwire, and will take a $3.2 billion collective investment from Intel Corp., Google Inc., Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Bright House Networks.

Assuming $20 per share, Sprint will own the largest stake, with an approximately 51 percent equity ownership; Clearwire shareholders will own around 27 percent and the new strategic investors, as a group, will acquire 22 percent.

“The power of the mobile Internet, which offers speed and mobility, home and away, on any device or screen, will fundamentally transform the communications landscape in our country,” said Craig McCaw, chairman at Clearwire, in a statement. “We believe that the new Clearwire will operate one of the fastest and most capable broadband wireless networks ever conceived, giving us the opportunity to return the U.S. to a leadership position in the global wireless industry.”

Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff called it a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

"Given the complexity of this transaction, we have taken the time and effort to do it right, by thoughtfully leveraging the resources and opportunities that we and our investors are bringing to the table,” Wolff said. “This transaction is tremendous news for the entire Clearwire team – our shareholders, our customers and our employee-partners, and we look forward to partnering with the talented team from XOHM to achieve our shared vision.”

The new Clearwire expects to offer mobile wireless Internet services on an array of new devices. Service will be made possible by integrated WiMAX chipsets, scalable operating expenses and a commitment to an open architecture.

Mobile WiMAX is a standards-based wireless broadband technology designed to operate multiple times faster than today’s 3G wireless networks. With embedded WiMAX chipsets in laptops, phones, PDAs, mobile Internet devices and consumer electronic equipment, mobile WiMAX technology is expected to allow users to wirelessly access multimedia applications, such as live videoconferencing, recorded video, games, large data files and more – anywhere in the network coverage area.