Clearwire's still growing Clear 4G service got refreshed devices for the new year on Monday. The Infomark-made Clear Spot Voyager reinterprets its mobile hotspot and touts a relatively long six-hour battery life for its WiMAX sharing. It can reach as many as eight Wi-Fi devices at once and, at 2.6 inches square, is meant to be pocketable.
Clearwire on Tuesday showed a significant recovery from near death with early estimates of its results. It swung from a loss in the summer to net positive earnings in the fall, owed directly to adding more subscribers and cost-cutting. The 4G provider expected to have gained 900,000 total customers, or an 11 percent jump just in one season.
Dish Network has indicated that it might be interested in acquiring assets from either AT&T or T-Mobile if their proposed $39 billion merger fails to go through. This insight came from Dish's CEO Joseph Clayton in an interview with Bloomberg. Dish has already expressed interest in acquiring customers and spectrum if US regulators require AT&T to divest any such assets in order to allow the deal to be completed.
Clearwire is reportedly set to provide $300 million of its Class A stock as a public offering, in an attempt to fetch additional funding for the company's LTE deployment plans. The WiMAX provider is also said to be leaving the door open, as a 30-day option, for its underwriters to purchase an additional $45 million in Class A shares.
As part of the recent AWS spectrum sale from cable providers to Verizon, Comcast will begin selling Verizon's mobile devices early next year. At the same time, Comcast will compete with Verizon in markets where it sells its FiOS TV and Internet service, said Comcast Cable president Neil Smit. Time Warner Cable will also sell Verizon products in bundled packages, though it will do so nearly immediately.
As part of the very recent $3.6 billion spectrum sale to Verizon, the communications provider will wholesale its spectrum to Time Warner Cable and Comcast, CNET found. It will replace Clearwire in this respect, as it's one of the conditions of the multi-billion dollar sale. Verizon will be the exclusive partner of the two providers, Time Warner Cable spokesperson Alexander Dudley said. The transition will be done over the course of the next six months, and TWC and Comcast will need to move their existing customers elsewhere.
Clearwire got a last-minute reprieve Thursday after Sprint confirmed a rumored last-minute financing deal. The 4G service is getting both debt assistance to pay off its $237 million owed on Thursday as well as up to $350 million to help Clearwire transition over to LTE. Under the new terms, most of the payments will come during 2012, although Sprint now also has to guarantee use of Clearwire's outgoing WiMAX network through 2015 or later.
Clearwire is reportedly close to securing additional funding from Sprint, suggesting the companies may have quietly overcome lingering disputes. The WiMAX provider is said to be in need of nearly $1 billion in additional capital to help keep the company afloat and upgrade its network amid increasing competition from other carriers offering 4G speeds via alternative technologies such as LTE.
Clearwire is considering not making a payment towards its debt due in the next two weeks. It owes $237 million on December 1 and its cash and short-term investments as of September 30 added up to $698 million, so the company can afford it, the Wall Street Journal said. Making the payment would put a significant draw on those savings, and the company is weighing the pros and cons of making it.
Sprint has announced a plan to offer notes due in 2018 and 202. It says that is 2018 offer will be guaranteed by the company’s wholly-owned subsidiaries its existing credit arrangements. The company will be selling off its debt in order to raise finances to help fund Clearwire to keep it afloat. While the company has not said how much it hopes to raise in the note offer, it said on October 26 that may need to raise as much as $7 billion to upgrade its own network and help pay for the high cost of its deal with Apple to sell the iPhone.
Sprint and Clearwire are close to signing a deal that keep their network sharing intact even after Sprint's LTE switch, purported sources divulged late Thursday. The terms passed on to Bloomberg would have it extend the deal for another three to five years. If completed, the deal will probably see Sprint pay less to Clearwire for when its 4G data goes over the Clearwire network.
Clearwire has reported better-than-expected revenue for the third quarter, with stock jumping 21.5 percent on Thursday. This growth, if maintained, should help the company build the money it needs to upgrade its network and retain it, as it's been tied to selling its 4G network capacity to other carriers. Its long-time partner, Sprint, has also been rumored to be distancing itself from Clearwire, though the carrier's CEO has gone on record to say this wasn't the case.
The CEO of Dish Network, Joseph Clayton, said in an interview on Monday that the company could be looking into partnering or acquiring a wireless carrier. He floated to Bloomberg the prospect of getting either Sprint or Clearwire. The Dish executive admitted, however, that his company also need to secure wireless infrastructure, more technological capabilities, and distribution.
Clearwire is reportedly involved in ongoing negotiations to sell some of its network capacity to other major carriers in the US. CEO Eric Prusch told Reuters the company is "talking to everybody," a list that includes AT&T and Verizon, along with smaller regional carriers such as Leap Wireless and MetroPCS.
Sprint may buy outstanding shares in Clearwire to build out its 4G LTE network more quickly, according to Bloomberg sources. Sprint is said to be in talks with cable companies include Comcast to raise the capital to buy out equity in Clearwire that it doesn’t already own. Although a deal is not said to be imminent, Sprint, which is currently losing money, is keen to invest around $600 million to upgrade its network in order to become more competitive with Verizon and AT&T.
Clearwire up-ended WiMAX with news Wednesday that it would make LTE and LTE Advanced its primary 4G formats. The rollout will give it peak speeds of 120Mbps or more using the same 2.5GHz frequencies and network that it already uses. While it will be LTE at first, it will be upgradeable to LTE Advanced when it becomes available and hit "at least" 100Mbps.
Not long after an FCC filing, Clear has unveiled a new-generation 4G hotspot. The Spot 4G-Apollo carries its own display to show its connection strength, battery life, amount transferred and other info without needing a look at a browser. It can handle up to eight simultaneous devices over Wi-Fi and has an unusually long six-hour battery life.
Sprint CEO Dan Hesse suggests the carrier later in the fall will be ready to announce significant plans surrounding its 4G deployments, though the executive has yet to confirm rumors pointing to a LightSquared deal for an LTE network. Speaking to visitors at Sprint's headquarters in Kansas, Hesse also added to his commentary on the AT&T/T-Mobile merger, claiming that he feels a personal obligation to oppose the deal and push for competition in the marketplace.
Sprint will wait until it reveals its latest fiscal results to confirm its LightSquared sharing deal, insiders explained Wednesday. The cell carrier should use its July 28 financials to confirm that LightSquared will be paying to use Sprint's cell sites while it grows its 4G LTE network. Terms weren't divulged to CNET but are rumored to involve $20 billion over 15 years.
Sprint and Clearwire have announced an expansion of the Clearwire 4G network coverage for mobile broadband customers in the greater New York City metro area. Sprint and Clearwire claim that they have added WiMax coverage for more than 11,927,000 people in the New York metro area. In total, the Clearwire 4G network now has an additional 21 percent coverage since its launch on November 1, 2010.
Up and coming 4G provider LightSquared is on the verge of completing its network sharing deal with Sprint, according to tips Wednesday. The nearly done deal would see LightSquared pay $2 billion every year for the next eight years to rent out Sprint's equipment for its own service. It wasn't evident from the Reuters tip when it would likely go live, though Sprint had pointed to further news about its network near the start of the second half of the year.
Clearwire has announced that it will transfer operational responsibility for its 4G network to Ericsson. Under the seven-year agreement, Ericsson will take over day-to-day responsibility for the network, while Clearwire will still retain physical ownership. Clearwire has taken this action in an effort to reduce its operating costs while maintaining network quality.
Sony Ericsson has announced that it has dropped its lawsuit against Clearwire. Sony Ericsson had filed suit in January claiming that Clearwire’s logo looked too similar to its own. An injunction was sought to stop Clearwire from using its swirl logo as the company had decided to enter the smartphone space. Clearwire recently told the court that it has dropped its plans to release its own phone, which has prompted Sony Ericsson to withdraw its suit.
During an earnings conference call this week, acting Clearwire CEO John Stanton revealed the company is engaged in talks with Sprint regarding using its upcoming LTE network. This helps support an earlier rumor that would help Sprint move from providing a Mobile WiMAX network to an LTE one with much-needed capital. Stanton said Clearwire won't be officially announcing its intentions until Sprint makes its own public commitment to revamp its network, expected to come this summer.
After only nine months on the market, wireless broadband operator Clearwire has shelved its Rover prepaid mobile Internet service. Rover was intended to capture the digitally-aware 18 to 24 year-old audience and was rare in focusing on prepaid data first. Charges could go up to $50 per month but also allowed for $20 per week and $5 per day.
Clearwire has put its spectrum sale on hold. Interim CEO John Stanton explained to investors that the company would not need to sell off its excess spectrum to raise funds in 2011, although he did not rule out the sale beyond the end of this year. Clearwire is currently in the process of expanding its WiMAX network, and was in need of funds. However, Stanton argued that the $1 billion over two years that it has raised from its with Sprint Nextel would be sufficient in the short term.
Sprint and Clearwire have come to a new agreement that required them to settle a previous dispute over wholesale pricing. Under the new deal, Clearwire will receive a minimum of $1 billion over the course of the next two years from Sprint in exchange for access to its high-speed WiMAX network for mobile devices. The deal comes at a crucial time for Clearwire, as it was trying to raise capital as early as late last year.
Credit Suisse analyst Jonathan Chaplin claimed on Thursday that Sprint would have its deal with LightSquared and a new deal with Clearwire could be ready in weeks. He expected the deal, which would let LightSquared lease access to all of Sprint's cell sites for an LTE-based 4G network, would be done within a month. Clearwire's deal would focus on getting new wholesale pricing and would probably follow afterwards.
Time Warner Cable might dip its toes into its own high-end WiMAX smartphone after an inside leak was corroborated late Thursday. The unnamed hardware was in testing and would use Sprint's CDMA network for voice with Clearwire's network handling the WiMAX for 4G data. Few details were available to FierceWireless' sources, though it's presumed this would be an Android device.
Best Buy has announced that its Connect mobile broadband service has been expanded with new options for 4G connectivity via Clearwire's WiMAX network. The 4G service will initially be offered on 23 different computers sold at Best Buy locations throughout the country, including models from companies such as Asus, Dell, HP, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba
Clearwire's new chief John Stanton in an interview Thursday voiced his objection to the proposed AT&T buyout of T-Mobile. He cast the company's potential 79 percent control of subscription customers in the US as a "huge challenge to competition." Device exclusivity was already a problem with AT&T, such as its recently ended iPhone exclusive, and could only get worse if the carrier had that much more clout, the CEO told the WSJ.
Sprint is quietly going ahead with a plan that would bring LTE to its network, a rumor started by a GLG contributor on Wednesday. Reportedly called Project Leapfrog, it would see Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, and Samsung add in LTE for 4G on its network and use the exit from IDEN to clear up 800MHz spectrum for the new network's use. It would reportedly take three years but would both put it on par with rivals like AT&T and Verizon while lowering its costs.
AT&T after a leak on Sunday confirmed that it will join other Internet providers in capping its service. Beginning on May 2, regular DSL subscribers will have up to 150GB per month, while those on its U-verse VDSL connections will have the same 250GB as a Comcast user. BBR was told overage fees of $10 for each extra 50GB of data will be in effect, but will only kick in for those who run over the cap three times, albeit over the duration of the account and not per year.
Clearwire raised concerns about its financial state on Thursday as company CEO Bill Morrow resigned both from the top spot and as director of the board. He didn't give more than "personal reasons." Board chairman John Stanton (pictured) would take over on an interim level while Morrow would be on tap as an advisor while the 4G company looked for a permanent CEO replacement.
Internet provider Clearwire is facing a lawsuit filed by 15 of its subscribers over its controversial throttling of connection speeds. The plaintiffs said Clearwire isn't delivering the advertised high-speed Internet services it promises, and when unhappy customers leave, charges them early termination fees. The complaints began in the summer of last year, when users said home connection speeds were dropped as low as 256Kbps.
Sprint's CEO Dan Hesse during a speech at conference in Florida on Wednesday said the company will continue to do business with Clearwire in the future. Sprint owns 54 percent of Clearwire, who is a wholesaler of WiMax technology on which Sprint depends. Hesse added that he'd like to see Sprint and Clearwire do more network sharing, BusinessWeek reported.
Sprint has been negotiating with Deutsche Telekom to buy T-Mobile USA in what would be a major shakeup of the US Cellular industry, sources alleged on Tuesday. The discussions hae been cast as "on and off" due to a dispute over how much T-Mobile would be worth, but the pursuit has raised the prospect of DT having a formal stake in the resulting union. The German company would own about half of the unified firm in this strategy, Bloomberg heard.
Sprint has changed the terms that determine CEO Dan Hesse's bonus for 2011, bringing an 18 percent gain in the executive's "short-term incentive" target. While customer numbers on Clearwire's network were an important factor calculated into 2010 compensation, performance on the WiMAX partner network will not be considered as a factor for the CEO's performance this year.
Three sources say wireless provider Sprint is in negotiations with LightSquared for the use of the former's cell sites to help build out the latter's network, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. LightSquared's FCC-approved wireless venture involves plans to repurpose its satellite spectrum for terrestrial LTE use, giving Sprint a partner for 4G services. Sprint's $5 billion plans to upgrade its hardware infrastructure would have capacity for a LightSquared service.
Samsung's 9 Series notebook got closer to its US launch late Friday with a listing for tests at the FCC. Broadcom put the ultrathin PC testing for its wireless technology. The listing didn't divulge specific features beyond the 900X3A badge for the model being put through approval.
Clearwire is reportedly planning to drop its own retail brand and realign its strategy solely as a wholesale network provider for its WiMAX service, sources have told the Wall Street Journal (sub. required). Sprint, which owns a non-controlling majority stake in Clearwire, will no longer have to compete directly with the company's retail endeavors.
T-Mobile, the last bidder left in the buyout of Clearwire spectrum, is close to finalizing the deal, according to a Friday report. Two sources who wish to remain anonymous said the buy could happen as early as this winter, though T-Mobile may be holding out to get a better deal. The carrier also needs to fund the deal, with some suggesting to Bloonberg that it may do so by selling its US-based telecommunications towers.
T-Mobile is the only major contender left to buy Clearwire spectrum, multiple tips said Thursday. Others have backed out on any major deals and would leave T-Mobile the only one buying large pieces of the spectrum, worth up to $2 billion. The Reuters informants said that a deal hadn't been reached partly as T-Mobile was still looking at a possible deal for Harbinger's national 4G network, LightSquared.
Sprint today said it was raising the prices of data on all smartphones by $10. The "Premium Data" fee it had previously charged only for 4G phones like the Evo 4G and Epic 4G will now count against 3G smartphones for anyone activating a phone after January 30. It raises the minimum cost of using voice and data with a smartphone on Sprint to $80 per month, making it the most expensive.
Sony Ericsson has filed a lawsuit against Clearwire, accusing the latter company of trademark infringement. The court filing, which was submitted to the US District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia, argues that Clearwire's "sphere with swirl marks" is "confusingly similar" to Sony Ericsson's collection of logos.
Clearwire in an SEC filing revealed that its board chairman Craig McCaw was leaving the company on Friday. The executive had given the company just two days' notice and didn't give a personal reason. His exit wasn't due to disagreements with the company, the WiMAX company said in its official point of view.
A Clear representative said this afternoon on the carrier forums that the iSpot 4G was being phased out. Only some retail stores still have stock of the Apple-specific router and will stop sales altogether once they run dry. Any remaining hotspots will be used to replace broken ones under warranty.
Sprint today unveiled a major new plan to upgrade its network and simplify it at the same time. Nicknamed Network Vision, it will replace the separate sites for 3G and 4G with single, multi-mode sites that provide CDMA, EVDO and WiMAX from a single point. The switch should reduce the amount of extra cell sites Sprint needs to run but also improve coverage by letting it put 4G on existing points.
On his blog this week, Clearwire's Chief Commerical Officer Mike Sievert criticized Verizon's data caps on its LTE network that's due to debut on December 5. Sievert believed next-generation 4G networks need to offer speed, capacity and value, and while Verizon will offer the speed, he says it will lack in the other two categories. Clear's WiMAX service offers all three, Sievert said.
Following last month's announcement that it will lay off workers in order to save money, Clearwire is now planning to sell at least $1.1 billion of debt. Wells Fargo & Co. analyst Jennifer Fritzsche believes this is the best resolution for Sprint, which owns 54 percent of Clearwire, as it does not have to put up capital to help out the struggling Clearwire.
