WiMax Future Remains Unclear With ClearwireWiMax Future Remains Unclear With Clearwire

Having passed a final regulatory hurdle last Friday by getting approval to combine its operations with those of Sprint Nextel's mobile WiMax group into a new company, Clearwire is planning to move ahead with a nationwide WiMax network under a new brand, Clear. However, the company's hedging its bets by investing in equipment that will support both WiMax and future competitor Long-Term Evolution, Clearwire CEO Benjamin Wolff said today.

Clearwire is several steps ahead of competitors like AT&T and Verizon Wireless in offering 4G mobile services in the United States, but Wolff still cast Clearwire as an underdog. "There are much larger companies that aspire to ultimately do what we do," he said, noting however that Clearwire holds more 4G spectrum than all other competitors combined and won't have to work around a legacy non-IP mobile network.

Though Clearwire is betting on WiMax for now, Wolff made it clear that despite the company's substantial investment in WiMax's success, there's nothing stopping Clearwire from eventually moving to support LTE, the technology being planned for use by Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Wolff said Clearwire may future-proof its network by buying equipment that supports both WiMax and LTE. "This isn't the technology war that some have made it out to be," he said.

Wolff forcefully shoved aside potential concerns that the current economic environment might not be the best one in which to invest billions of dollars in a new network. "It is precisely times like these when bold moves enable nimble and entrepreneurial companies to capitalize on market opportunities that aren't being addressed by others," he said.

All new Clearwire networks, as well as Baltimore's existing Sprint Xohm WiMax network, will get the new name, as will existing Clearwire pre-WiMax networks as they get upgraded to WiMax, Wolff said in a conference call with investors and press.

However, though Clearwire has raised $3.2 billion from companies like Comcast, Intel, Time Warner Cable, and Google, it has said that it will need at least about $5 billion in total to build its nationwide WiMax network. Reuters reports the company could slow its build-out over the next year or so as it seeks the remaining $2 billion in a tough credit market.

Clearwire will sell its own service under the Clear brand, and Sprint, Comcast, Time Warner, and Bright House will become wholesale customers of Clearwire, reselling WiMax services under their own brands and as part of larger bundles. Clearwire will run completely independently of its investors and of Sprint, arguably its most important partner.

Wolff noted work with Google to promote Google Apps and to get WiMax-supported Google Android mobile devices. In an interview at Baltimore's Xohm launch in September, then-Sprint CTO Barry West (he's now Clearwire's president and chief architect) suggested Comcast might sell mobile video service over WiMax. And both Clearwire and Sprint will likely offer dual-mode 3G/4G services sometime next year.

Clearwire's first open mobile WiMax networks will be in Baltimore and in Portland, Ore., where new customers will begin coming online later this month. This reporter has also been able to get online with Xohm in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, though the D.C. network has not yet been officially announced and isn't supported by Clearwire and Sprint. Other new markets will launch soon, and consumers can help Clearwire decide where to build its next networks by sending an e-mail to [email protected].