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A day after announcing up to 2,500 layoffs, Sprint Nextel has agreed to pump $1.176 billion into Clearwire Corp., the public company that is building out the fourth-generation WiMax wireless network Sprint is counting on to boost its own business.
Sprint’s partners in Clearwire, excluding Google Inc., will inject an additional $388 million to provide $1.564 billion for expanding the WiMax network.
An Illinois wireless company can move forward with a lawsuit seeking access to Sprint Nextel’s WiMax technology, but a judge dismissed the pursuit of monetary damages in the case.
The Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois dismissed several key parts and preserved other portions of a legal challenge iPCS Inc. filed against Sprint.
iPCs, based in Schaumburg, Ill., sells Sprint-branded service to nearly 700,000 customers in a Midwestern territory that includes portions of Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Iowa.
Do Sprint’s 4G plans require a sudden turnaround?
That’s how some have greeted the news that, in a surprise move, Clearwire pushed aside CEO Ben Wolff.
In his place, the company placed William (Bill) T. Morrow, a wireless industry veteran who has previous stops at Vodafone and AirTouch. More recently he was president and CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric in San Francisco.
Sprint’s Dan Hesse just yesterday was touting the importance of his company’s plans to move toward “the big bang” of fourth-generation wireless service with its Clearwire initiative.
“You either have it or you don’t,” Hesse, Sprint’s CEO, said at a Citi investor’s conference. “We expect to be the first in the market with it. It is crucial for us.”
Sprint did complete the spin-off of its WiMax unit in recent weeks, shifting its team and WiMax hopes over to the new Clearwire.
On a day it was launching a new market, Sprint’s WiMax spin-off also garnered attention for where it has yet to offer service.
Stacey Higginbotham over at GigaOm noted today that Clearwire has launched its “Clear” network in Portland, Ore., which joins Baltimore, Md., in the for now limited WiMax fraternity.
Sprint Nextel is building a bridge to a fourth generation of wireless service.
In a few days, Sprint will begin selling a dual-mode air card that can connect laptops to either a WiMax wireless network or Sprint's currently more expansive 3G wireless network. The company said the Sprint 3G/4G USB Modem U300 signaled nothing short of "making wireless history."
"Sprint launched 4G in Baltimore in September and plans to launch in other markets across the country throughout 2009," the company stated this morning. "This versatile device will enable customers to experience blazing fast Internet access, greater productivity and enhanced multimedia quality throughout 4G markets, and offer access to the dependable Sprint 3G network virtually everywhere else. The 3G/4G USB modem represents another major development in truly un-tethered broadband access."
Barry West needs a new license plate.
Not just because West, the former top executive of Sprint Nextel’s WiMax unit, is moving from his East Coast enclave to the Seattle area. Another reason is that the “XOHM” on West’s old vanity license plate is the name of a now defunct brand.
Ben Wolff, chief executive officer of the new Clearwire, said this morning that the company will sell its high-speed wireless WiMax services under the brand "Clear."
Sprint and Clearwire today said they have completed a deal to join Sprint's WiMax services with Clearwire.
The deal, approved by federal regulators earlier this month, creates a new wireless provider that will offer high-speed service across the country.
The new company received $3.2 billion in cash from Comcast, Intel, Time Warner Cable, Google and Bright House Networks.
Clearwire will hold a conference call Monday to offer details about the new company.
Clearwire shareholders decided Thursday it would be a good thing to collect $3.2 billion from Google, Intel, Comcast, Time Warner and team up with Sprint to build a new national high-speed wireless network.
Shareholders of the company based in Washington state approved the deal that will merge that business with the WiMax unit of Sprint Nextel.
“Today, our shareholders have taken a transformative step toward enabling an entirely new mobile Internet experience for consumers and businesses across the country,” Benjamin Wolff, chief executive officer of Clearwire, said in a statement. “With an unmatched spectrum portfolio, a next generation all IP network, an ever-expanding ecosystem of mobile 4G devices, and the backing of some of the most innovative communications, entertainment and technology companies in the world, Clearwire is ready to redefine mobile Internet services in the U.S.”
iPCS, the upstart affiliate that has been kicking Sprint around in the Illinois courts for years, is reversing itself...sort of.
The affiliate today said it has withdrawn its request to block the merger of Sprint's Xohm division and Kirkland, Wash.-based Clearwire.
The action clears the way for the launch of a new nationwide wireless broadband company by the end of the year. Clearwire shareholders are scheduled to vote on the merger of the $14.5 billion company Thursday.
iPCS contends in a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago that Sprint's partnership with Clearwire violated the smaller company's operating agreement with Sprint. A trial on that lawsuit is set for Dec. 2.
AT&T is spending $275 million to fight back against the WiMax initiative of Sprint Nextel and Clearwire.
At least that is how some were viewing the telecommunication giant’s purchase of Wayport in a deal that will expand the AT&T Wi-Fi footprint to nearly 20,000 hotspots throughout the country, including hotels and McDonald’s restaurants. AT&T also began giving its customers free Wi-Fi access at hotspots in Starbucks stores.
This take on the news says AT&T did the deal “to compete with a consortium of companies led by Sprint Nextel that are developing a faster alternative to the wireless network currently used by mobile phone companies.”
The WiMax legal battle is heating up.
iPCS, a suburban Illinois company that sells Sprint service in seven states, asked a judge in Cook County to grant an emergency motion for an injunction blocking the Sprint Clearwire spinoff.
The FCC approved the request from Sprint and Clearwire, stating, "The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today approved,with conditions, the transfer of control of licenses held Sprint-Nextel Corporation and Clearwire Corporation to New Clearwire Corporation. The merger is expected to facilitate the build-out of
a nationwide WiMAX-based network that will lead to increased competition, greater consumer choice and new, innovative wireless services."
We have a big vote coming up in November.
No, I'm not talking about the selection of the next leader of the free world, though the John McCain and Barack Obama contest certainly is big.
The vote I am talking about is the required Clearwire shareholder consideration of the proposed deal where Sprint will jettison its WiMax unit and merge it with Clearwire.
Ben Wolff, who is chief executive officer of Clearwire and who also is slated to be CEO of the new Clearwire Corp, told his team and members of Sprint's Xohm-branded WiMax unit in an email today that the shareholder vote is expected to happen within weeks.
Clearwire and Sprint Nextel investors certainly were jumpy Thursday.
Granted, it was another dismal market overall as the Dow dumped another 7 percent of its value.
But Sprint and Clearwire each fell by more than 15 percent.
Clearwire’s shares plummeted $1.49, or nearly 16 percent, to $7.89. Sprint dropped by 68 cents, or about 15 percent, to $3.76.
The stock drop gained momentum following news that Sprint must persuade judges in Illinois to let the company proceed with a spin-off of its WiMax unit that is supposed to be merged with Clearwire later this year.
It’s a particularly important transaction.
The fate of the Sprint WiMax deal with Clearwire now rests in the hands of Illinois judges.
iPCS, the affiliate carrier selling Sprint-branded service throughout a huge chunk of the Midwest, said Thursday that it persuaded a Delaware court to put a WiMax-related case there on hold while the legal dispute plays out in Illinois.
The Chancery Court of the State of Delaware agreed to stay the litigation that could block Sprint’s plans to spin off its WiMax business unit and merge it with another WiMax company called Clearwire.
Sprint hasn’t been very successful so far before Illinois judges in another high-stakes legal matter. As it now stands, Sprint could face being forced to sell or shut down its Nextel business in iPCS territory, which includes parts of Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and Tennessee.