It looks like Sprint’s delays in rolling out its much-hyped Xohm WiMax service were for good reason: the company announced Wednesday that it has rolled the entire service together with competing broadband provider Clearwire to form a new company. Clearwire, as it will be known, plans to roll out WiMax nationwide, representing the first wide-scale deployment of next-generation wireless Internet in the United States.
Besides Sprint and Clearwire, a number of other companies have also managed to get in on the deal. Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks collectively contributed $3.2 billion in funding to the new project. They will control 22 percent of the company, while existing Clearwire stockholders will take 27 percent, and Sprint will maintain the majority stake with 51 percent.
“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,” said Clearwire Chairman Craig O. McCaw, in a statement. “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.”
Both Sprint and the old Clearwire will pool their respective WiMax resources and intellectual property, and the new Clearwire will leverage Sprint’s existing towers, fiber network and IT support to speed deployment. The company hopes to extend service to between 120 million and 140 million people by the end of 2010, which would represent more than a third of the U.S. population.
