Sprint’s next generation mobile Internet, WiMAX, or Xohm as those of you paying close attention the past 6 months will remember has recently been deployed to select cities. Those select cities make up a small percentage of the comprehensive United States WiMAX blanket Sprint set its sights on when announcing their intentions last year. In the time since Sprint announced their intentions to launch nationwide WiMAX coverage, a deal with Clearwire Corporation was speculated, then announced, then denied and now finally inked.
On May 7, 2008 – Clearwire Corporation and Sprint Nextel Corporation announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine their next generation wireless broadband businesses (WiMAX) to form a new wireless communications company named Clearwire. While the name is not original, the announcement is huge with the $3.2 Billion in combined company investment from Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House Networks. The goal of Clearwire will be speeding the deployment of the next-generation mobile WiMAX network across the United States.
For those Sprint shareholders still biting the bullet and hanging on to the sub $10 share stocks, this news should add value to investments and possibly bring Sprint’s accounting back into the black. If Sprint stock prices are not of your particular interest and the launch date of nationwide WiMAX is your dream, exciting details from Clearwire Chariman Craig O. McCaw were announced in a press release today:
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. 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.”
The idea that the United States would be the leader in the global wireless industry still seems far fetched for us with the majority of foreign markets heading towards LTE roll outs over WiMAX, but anything is possible. If the roll out of WiMAX in the United States is completed before LTE hits market, times could be very bright for Sprint and Clearwire investors. The rumors that Deutsche Telekom (DT) will be purchasing Sprint/Nextel will soon be laid to rest of this WiMAX US roll out can materialize quick enough.