Wimax appears to have got the blessing of Sprint's new CEO Daniel Hesse, at least for the time being. Hesse's predecessor as CEO, Gary Forsee, was persuaded to leave allegedly because he was too keen on Sprint's Wimax operation known as Xohm.
Now, despite awful Q1 figures for Sprint as a whole, showing it had lost over a million customers and over half a billion dollars, Hesse is waxing positive on Wimax.
Now, despite awful Q1 figures for Sprint as a whole, showing it had lost over a million customers and over half a billion dollars, Hesse is waxing positive on Wimax.
Xohm's Wimax assets, i.e. all Sprint's Wimax assets, are now part of a new joint venture with Clearwire, called, rather confusingly Clearwire. As well as the original Clearwire's initial investors, Motorola and Intel, the new, combined Clearwire has new investors Sprint, Google, Comcast, Time Warner, and Intel (again) as joint owners plus, of course, Sprint.
Hesse said that the new combined Clearwire company would have a Wimax network which would deliver a two year edge over AT&T and Verizon in high-speed Internet service, both at home and on mobile phones.
Intel has now put $1.6 billion into Clearwire in both its original state as a separate company, and in its new state as a combined company with the Xohm Wimax assets. That gives Intel a 10 per cent stake in Clearwire. The assets of Clearwire are valued at $14.55 billion. Intel is, essentially, trying to buy control of a market for its Wimax chips.
Clearwire had a Q1 loss of $176.4 million as it seeks to expand its network.
Bizarrely, a Sprint affiliate called Sprint iPCS is suing Sprint to try and stop the Cleawire merger on the grounds that it had exclusive rights to provide Wimax services in some areas.
Hesse said that the new combined Clearwire company would have a Wimax network which would deliver a two year edge over AT&T and Verizon in high-speed Internet service, both at home and on mobile phones.
Intel has now put $1.6 billion into Clearwire in both its original state as a separate company, and in its new state as a combined company with the Xohm Wimax assets. That gives Intel a 10 per cent stake in Clearwire. The assets of Clearwire are valued at $14.55 billion. Intel is, essentially, trying to buy control of a market for its Wimax chips.
Clearwire had a Q1 loss of $176.4 million as it seeks to expand its network.
Bizarrely, a Sprint affiliate called Sprint iPCS is suing Sprint to try and stop the Cleawire merger on the grounds that it had exclusive rights to provide Wimax services in some areas.
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