Clearwire has completed its merger with Sprint Nextel’s WiMax unit, and will absorb Sprint’s existing WiMax network in g Baltimore and continue building out the company’s planned nationwide WiMax service. The new unit will continue doing business under the Clearwire name; the company (based in the Seattle suburb Kirkland) already has about 400,000 customers on its own network. Eventually, Clearwire hopes to make WiMax “4G” mobile broadband services available to as many as 140 million users in the United States using Sprint’s extensive spectrum licenses.
“As we roll out our network across the country, people will no longer have to make the choice between speed and mobility,” said Clearwire CEO Benjamin Wolff, in a statement. “”With significant spectrum holdings yielding unmatched network capacity, a next-generation all-IP network, and an open Internet business model, Clearwire will deliver a simple value proposition aimed to improve productivity and make the Internet experience more enjoyable, wherever our customers happen to be.”
The new WiMax services will be offered under a new name—Clear—replacing the Xohm brand that Sprint has been touting for a couple years and has already rolled out on its initial WiMax network deployments.
Sprint owns 51 percent of the new company; the remainder is held by Clearwire’s original investors, including Bright House Networks, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Google. The company also expects to receive additional funds from Trilogy Equity Partners in the coming months.
