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Financial woes at Clearwire force cuts in 4G expansion

From PCMag.com:
Cash-Strapped Clearwire Slashes Staff, Halts Roll Outs:
Clearwire has run into some money troubles. In a third-quarter earnings report, the company said it has "not yet secured future funding," and must implement a number of cost-saving measures, including layoffs and a suspension of additional market roll outs.
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I have to worry about the future of Sprint's 4G network.

It says in the article that sprints 4g plans have not changed. Kinda sucks but oh well.

Yes, all along they've been careful to clarify that Clearwire's retail 4G service is distinct from the Sprint 4G service.
Harris

omeinv said:
Yes, all along they've been careful to clarify that Clearwire's retail 4G service is distinct from the Sprint 4G service.
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But don't they share the same Wimax infrastructure? For example, if the Clearwire buildout in Denver and Miami is deferred, as the story says, then wouldn't that mean that Sprint 4G service in those cities is also deferred?

boomerbubba said:
But don't they share the same Wimax infrastructure? For example, if the Clearwire buildout in Denver and Miami is deferred, as the story says, then wouldn't that mean that Sprint 4G service in those cities is also deferred?
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Not necessarily, I am not familiar with the contract agreements between them, but from what I have gathered - Clear is more the boots on the ground and Sprint is the cash cow. In other words, Sprint provides the funding for the infrastructure, Clear just has the man power and know how to get the job setup.

Kcarpenter said:
Not necessarily, I am not familiar with the contract agreements between them, but from what I have gathered - Clear is more the boots on the ground and Sprint is the cash cow. In other words, Sprint provides the funding for the infrastructure, Clear just has the man power and know how to get the job setup.
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I'm not talking about the contract agreements, but the tangible network infrastructure. It is the real boots on the ground that are being cut.
It seems pretty simple: If the actual Wimax network doesn't get physically built out or expanded, then it isn't there for Sprint to use. (It also wouldn't be there for Clear service, Time Warner mobile data service, etc., which I don't care about.)

Well I do know that we got 4G in South FL now. not all areas, but most. my house doesn't have it, but south and north of me does.

You won't see anything happening to sprint. The 4G is only going to get bigger.
Sent from my SPH-D700

people there is noooo need to worry. what clearwire is doing is just cutting staff now to prepare for the future. clearwires profit and subscriber rates skyrocketed over the past year, and to better be sure they can keep more money and expand more latter,,,, they are pretty much just cutting the staff now so they wont have to do it later. the future of 4g is not in jeopardy or anything like that. atleast for now

I concur with boomer.

surveysays said:
people there is noooo need to worry. what clearwire is doing is just cutting staff now to prepare for the future. clearwires profit and subscriber rates skyrocketed over the past year, and to better be sure they can keep more money and expand more latter,,,, they are pretty much just cutting the staff now so they wont have to do it later. the future of 4g is not in jeopardy or anything like that. atleast for now
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WTF? Clearwire is losing money, $139 million last quarter and has never turned a profit (sprint itself also lost one billion dollars this quarter alone).
The analysts are saying the NY rollout was done with the very last of clearwire's reserves.
this means cuts in 4g rollout for clearwire which is the rollout of sprint 4G.
It isn't a question of them turning out the lights, yet, but it is that this clearly means that the new rollouts, and existing cities which all need beefing up and maintenance as more users come on line, will suffer.
Expansion and much needed beefing up of already deployed markets will suffer -- there is no other way to read it. Clearwire is also not going to be able to fund its planned changeover to LTE without a major injection of money from god knows where, or selling some if ts spectrum

boomerbubba said:
But don't they share the same Wimax infrastructure? For example, if the Clearwire buildout in Denver and Miami is deferred, as the story says, then wouldn't that mean that Sprint 4G service in those cities is also deferred?
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Absolutely

I talked to a fry's employee the other day (facts to keep in mind: in Orange County, CA, Fry's doesn't carry sprint, and they work on commission.) He said that 4G was going to go away, that no more towers were going up, and that sprint didn't use clearwire's towers. For reference, I get 5mbits down on 4G in that particular location.
He went on to say that there's a reason sprint hasn't released any more 4G phones, that T-Mobile was going to buy sprint (I'm assuming he meant Deutche Telekom), and that they were going to release a bunch of android dual CDMA/GSM combo phones. But then he went on to say that he's got the "best of everything" including his new G2 where he's getting d/l speeds of "14 megapixels".
Prior, I had just asked him if they sold extra batteries for the Epic. But either way, i'm curious which bits could be true. This was last week, before I saw a lot of these publicized sprint/clearwire woes.

decalex said:
I talked to a fry's employee the other day...
...He said that 4G was going to go away,
...that no more towers were going up
...and that sprint didn't use clearwire's towers..
...that there's a reason sprint hasn't released any more 4G phones, that T-Mobile was going to buy sprint (I'm assuming he meant Deutche Telekom),
.....and that they were going to release a bunch of android dual CDMA/GSM combo phones.
.....But then he went on to say that he's got the "best of everything" including his new G2 where he's getting d/l speeds of "14 megapixels".
...... i'm curious which bits could be true.
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A: None
10char

The plot thickens.
http://androidspin.com/2010/11/13/goodbye-clear-can-clear-survive-with-or-without-sprint/

"reported that the two carriers have entered into an arbitration process regarding the “Premium Fee” of $10 per month for Evo 4G and Epic 4G phones. Clearwire said that there are nearly 810,000 customers with either the Evo or Epic phones; out of these customers Clearwire estimates as many as 364,500 of them are being used in cities without WiMAX deployment areas. This has led Sprint to reevaluate the agreement that they have with Clear"
Does this mean sprint is looking at not charing people the $10 fee if they dont live in a area with 4g/wimax? We dont have it in my area but have been thinking of going to sprint but we want 4 good android phoens and $40 a month kinda defeats the purpose of going to sprint to save cash

It means Sprint thinks Clear(wire) isn't delivering on its promise to deliver 4G and they're (Sprint) is concerned Clear is (may) take some of Sprint's customers.
The fee won't go away; Clear needs it to stay liquid and not go into bankruptcy. But if Clear takes Sprint customers, Sprint can't pay the wholesale fees for 4G spectrum.
Basically unless Sprint can get some cash into Clear (subscribers or investors or buyers), Clear goes bankrupt within 12 months and WIMAX disappears. Sprint might sell off thr WIMAX spectrum as no other carrier in the U.S. wants WIMAX - they're all LTE.
If Clear goes, things don't look great for Sprint.
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sprint needs to follow verizons path, and offer 4g in every football city.

clearwire more trouble.

The chairman of Clearwire's board of directors will resign his position today, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Craig McCaw, who served as chairman for two years, did not resign over any disagreements with the company or over any matters pertaining to the company's operations or practices, according to the filing.
The company, which has visions of being a major player in the 4G wireless space, has been adding subscribers at a rapid clip as the WiMax technology has rolled out into cities. But the company has also hit a cash crunch and, last month, said it will have to cut its workforce by 15 percent, trim its marketing spending, and delay plans for launches in other cities. Read more of "Clearwire's Chairman to resign post today" at ZDNet.

Good shut clear down for good make sprint rules the real 4g with no caps at dial up speeds or lower
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You do realize that shutting clear down at this time means losing complete access to 4g right?
Better for that to happen after the network changes where 4G equipment is on our towers and in our BTS boxes and what not.
Otherwise Sprint has no 4G hardware solution currently deployed in any box or tower.
So...lets get that done first.

competition in business is a GOOD thing.

No Clearwire = No 4G = No $10/mo multimedia rich experience fee?
Sent via my EVO from the backseat of your Momma's SUV.

If they get shutdown would sprint have to join LTE services? If so wouldn't wimax compatible phone have to be recalled? Would we get hwd 005 Evo's that support LTE?

sprint more than likely will join LTE regardless of what happens with clear although Wimax2 is a beast

I read somewhere that we can use LTE we just need a radio update.
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Blitzpwnage said:
I read somewhere that we can use LTE we just need a radio update.
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Not true.
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wimax is supposedly lte compatible but only if you take a big performance hit, the reason being that wimax and lte is supposed to be the same hardware just different software implementation, this is what an engineer told me but i still take it with a truckload of salt, as far as i can tell only one variant of lte is compatible with wimax and offers no improvement, to my understanding its only the hardware in the tower thats cross compatible and not the lte/wimax chipsets used in phones and modems, i do recall wimax being called future proof though

I am not sure if you all know, that Sprint does not own most of there towers that they have data and voice services. For example in So Cali most of the Cell towers that have 3g and 4g are own and operated but guess who; not sprint that is right they are owned and operated by Clearwire and this is true for most of the country. Sprint sold off most of there towers years ago.

glennpettit said:
I am not sure if you all know, that Sprint does not own most of there towers that they have data and voice services. For example in So Cali most of the Cell towers that have 3g and 4g are own and operated but guess who; not sprint that is right they are owned and operated by Clearwire and this is true for most of the country. Sprint sold off most of there towers years ago.
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That may be true but... Rember that lil Sprint/Clearwire merger while back? Pretty sure that makes them Sprints doesnt it?

for 4g, clearwire owns them, sprint uses them.

nuggyunlimited said:
If they get shutdown would sprint have to join LTE services? If so wouldn't wimax compatible phone have to be recalled? Would we get hwd 005 Evo's that support LTE?
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No, it wouldn't be recalled. No, LTE would not simply be a new hardware revision of the same phone.
Regardless of what happens with clearwire, a transition from WiMax to LTE is likely at some point. There's been speculation of that for over a year now, as LTE is emerging as the standard. I don't know if they have all the specifics worked out, but they'll probably look for a way to light up LTE and phase out WiMax at a later time. If they go that route, at some point they'll stop marketing WiMax phones. 2 years from that point, everybody is upgrade eligible, so they notify everyone that it's time to upgrade, or 4G access won't be available. The 3G network will probably still be alive and well, so it won't be a brick.
As to whether a sudden bankruptcy of clearwire would mean 4G would go dark prematurely, I think that's unlikely. Despite their debt problems, the network and spectrum they own is a major asset. Sprint is also a majority owner, and the original owner of some of those assets as well. Sprint has a major interest in that infrastructure continuing to exist and serve their customers. I think it's pretty likely that some arrangement will be made that would be completely transparent to customers as far as operation of the network.

Doesn't sprint own 51% of clear? I believe sprint could just buyout the rest, but are trying to avoid that decision.

scooter185 said:
Doesn't sprint own 51% of clear? I believe sprint could just buyout the rest, but are trying to avoid that decision.
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From what I heard, Sprint did something to try to protect themselves from responsibility if Clearwire fails ultimately via their execs stepping down from Clearwire's board of directors? Something to that effect. I'm not sure if it was intentional, though, since I guess it was related to anti-trust issues but in the long run it might end up benefiting Sprint.
Recently Clearwire was trying to get Sprint to buy their 1.1 billion debt but the deadline passed on January 2nd and Sprint took no action to do so, so who knows.
It's been an interesting journey for Clear it seems.

Damnit! I know the Evo will probably be obsolete by the time this issue is resolved and LTE will possibly prevail but I hate being on the loosing side of the battle.
I guess this is no different than Beta vs. Vhs or HD dvd vs. Blu-ray. One format will win. I just don't like how Verizon and At&t get away with continually conning the public with over priced services and convincing them that everything they offer is superior.
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Omg sprint owns 4g towers every 4g is on sprint towers not clear clear is using sprint back bone and yea clear shutting down for good and 4g will remain 4g with sprint as it should be
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tech7 said:
Omg sprint owns 4g towers every 4g is on sprint towers not clear clear is using sprint back bone and yea clear shutting down for good and 4g will remain 4g with sprint as it should be
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Clearly you have NO idea what you're talking about. The two 4G towers near me are owned by CLEAR not Sprint.

In my area there are clear kiosks all over the local malls here.

I Wonder What Sprint Will Announce

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2388741,00.asp

Probably the LTE switch.
via EVO.

Likely that they will be running both technologies.

Sprint can't afford for clearwire to faulter yet. Sprint will slowly move out of it meaning no more expansion of wimax, If they want the Iphone with 4g they will need to go lte anyways. They will limp clearwire along until they can afford to let it go belly up.

detcup4evr said:
Sprint can't afford for clearwire to faulter yet. Sprint will slowly move out of it meaning no more expansion of wimax, If they want the Iphone with 4g they will need to go lte anyways. They will limp clearwire along until they can afford to let it go belly up.
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They own the company via majority ownership soo Clearwire is theirs to do as they see fit... It would be pointless for them to keep pouring money into it. But Supposdly the plan to run many technologies using the same panels is supposed to help along with expansions...

I could see them announcing phones with either both technologies, or just one of the technologies (though I highly doubt the latter of the two).
Sprint has too much to lose if they decide to drop wimax. That completely defeats the purpose of launching new phones with 4G. Not only that, but a lot of people that have switched to Sprint for there smartphones most likely have a 4G capable device. To top that all off, Sprint has spent a lot of money on Clearwire, so it would be extremely stupid to just throw all of their progress away.
Now I haven't heard of a dual mode lte/wimax chip yet (I remember something but I don't think it was wimax), but if Sprint did use that in future phones, that would be completely awesome. It would allow them to keep their current investments while also introducing new products.
On the phone side, I could see them announcing an Iphone, the Kingdom, the Galaxy Within (although that may come sooner), another Samsung Phone, and maybe a few mid class smartphones. Most of these are just guesses, but I would be happy if I was right
My .02

It would be nice if Sprint would expand both their existing 4g as well as the possible new 4g, as they have many existing customers who pay the extra 4g fee as they've been told by sprint stores that "it's coming" to their area.
It would be another disappointment if this turned out to be a dangling carrot to increase sales.

There is no "4g" fee. It's a fee for ALL smart phones. 3g and 4g.
Sent from my HTC Evo 3D.

This announcement is likely about their partnership with LightSquared, the wholesale LTE provider that was causing grief with GPS systems. It provides land-and-satellite based LTE that could potentially provide coverage across the entire United States.
I highly doubt that Sprint is going to keep investing in WiMax phones once their LTE network goes full-throttle. Clear is already having problems, and adoption of their services hasn't been as great as they hoped it would be. They'll be around as an ISP for a while, but Sprint isn't going to go out its way to develop hybrid LTE/WiMax chips when LTE is clearly the technology of the future. Honestly, why would anyone use WiMax when LTE is available in all the same (and more, thanks to LightSquared's satellite coverage) locations?
WiMax got Sprint out the door with 4G first, but that also means that it's old technology and everyone else has moved on to the latest and greatest. Sprint needs to catch up, and I have high hopes about this LightSquared service, both as a Sprint customer and a rural internet user.

aimbdd said:
There is no "4g" fee. It's a fee for ALL smart phones. 3g and 4g.
Sent from my HTC Evo 3D.
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^This. It's still a load of BS, but he/she is right. This isn't a "4G" fee, just a "you bought a smartphone, so you use more of our data" fee.

my .02 is that the only reason sprint wants the lte is to later on strike a roaming deal with verizon so we could use their lte which will be more available and nearly everywhere

pimp100500 said:
my .02 is that the only reason sprint wants the lte is to later on strike a roaming deal with verizon so we could use their lte which will be more available and nearly everywhere
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This 100%. It would be nice to see 4G, in any form on Sprint, in my area soon. VZW and the GSM provider(s) already have it here, why not Sprint.

i think... guessing...
that they are about to turn on the Vision plan they been upgrading towers too....
using all the spectrum they own better....
and powering on the small repeaters ... to enhance their 4G service....

Waffles And Syrup said:
^This. It's still a load of BS, but he/she is right. This isn't a "4G" fee, just a "you bought a smartphone, so you use more of our data" fee.
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Really? When I signed up for my plan I could have sworn I had to pay for premium data only because of 4G. Must have been mistaken...

soldierforchrist2 said:
Really? When I signed up for my plan I could have sworn I had to pay for premium data only because of 4G. Must have been mistaken...
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Yes, you are mistaken.

I'm more than a little bit concerned about LightSquared's potential interference with GPS. I hope that they can resolve that properly, especially if Sprint were to partner with them.

mattykinsx said:
Yes, you are mistaken.
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Oh well

Waffles And Syrup said:
^This. It's still a load of BS, but he/she is right. This isn't a "4G" fee, just a "you bought a smartphone, so you use more of our data" fee.
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To be fair though a little bit, the fee at first was only on the Evo, and even the Epic when it was released. Now it's just on every smartphone, but $10 isn't gonna break the bank for me personally.

Guys you do know that a LTE roaming deal could bankrupt Sprint right?

cmsjr123 said:
Guys you do know that a LTE roaming deal could bankrupt Sprint right?
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I was told Sprint is merging with Verizon on LTE

Sprint will reveal in October the news that they will be sharing the LTE signal and towers with Verizon. According to something I read and a employee dude in the Sprint store told me. Anyone has any info on this?

engelsione said:
Sprint will reveal in October the news that they will be sharing the LTE signal and towers with Verizon. According to something I read and a employee dude in the Sprint store told me. Anyone has any info on this?
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Verizon owns their network.
They might have a deal (much like the cdma deal) where they will be able to roam across networks...but its highly unlikely that Verizon would truly "share" their network with Sprint in the way you're thinking. (As in how Clear has with wimax)
Announcement link here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1241021

Im wondering if wimax radios will become useful for nothing.
Sent by breaking the sound barrier

I See this happening for only one reason.
It would be way cheaper.
The companies could use a data swapping model.
The two companies would swap equal amounts of data for no charge. and charge who ever uses more.
This method would allow the companies to expand their network and advertise they have more coverage.
\It will not be free but it will need to have some sort of method for finding out who uses what data who is going to be charged. This would allow cheaper costs and to have a huge footprint rather fast. It will also give time for the companies to save $$$ and build out their networks and switch solely to their LTE towers.
Again these companies will never do this. BUT. LTE hopping while using some sort of data swapping...Ehh
May or may not happen.

ok...but how about all the wimax phones sprint has and none lte....

Indirect said:
Im wondering if wimax radios will become useful for nothing.
Sent by breaking the sound barrier
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kostov22 said:
ok...but how about all the wimax phones sprint has and none lte....
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Folks, keep in mind that networks take a long time to be built.
But yes, Wimax is looking to become the next 'BetaMax'.

Indirect said:
Im wondering if wimax radios will become useful for nothing.
Sent by breaking the sound barrier
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Its already useless where I live. I'm not to worried about LTE and switching phones since as mentioned it takes a while. Still waiting to get my hands on that new Galaxy model.

mattykinsx said:
Folks, keep in mind that networks take a long time to be built.
But yes, Wimax is looking to become the next 'BetaMax'.
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Lol I remember watching our betamax when I was young.
Sent from my nike hating evo!

Betamax has better audio quality than VHS.

indagroove said:
Betamax has better audio quality than VHS.
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From what I understand the video quality was better too.
....
Not sure what that has to do with this topic?

mattykinsx said:
From what I understand the video quality was better too.
....
Not sure what that has to do with this topic?
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Just like Wimax better then LTE but being dropped like beta is probably the reference he's makin
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I was told..... radioactive waste had high nutritional value.

jessejames111981 said:
I was told..... radioactive waste had high nutritional value.
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Awesome
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Indirect said:
Im wondering if wimax radios will become useful for nothing.
Sent by breaking the sound barrier
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Evo, Evo Shift, Epic 4g, Evo 3d, Random Samsung phone, and the Epic Touch coming are all WiMax, so I doubt it'll become useless.

Its not like they're just gonna immediately shut down the Wimax network anyway.
If they do, by the time they do, no one will have a Wimax capable phone.

"Sprint on Thursday announced that it has inked a deal with LightSquared will see 4G LTE services built out on its massive nationwide network. LightSquared will pay Sprint $9 billion over 15 years for the right to build out its LTE network using Sprint infrastructure, and Sprint will also get a total of $4.5 billion in credits toward LTE and satellite service. Equally important to the nation’s No. 3 carrier, the deal will allow it to save about $13 billion in network build-out costs and cover 260 million Americans with its 4G LTE service by 2015."
http://www.bgr.com/2011/07/28/sprint-announces-deal-to-adopt-4g-lte/

mxl180 said:
"Sprint on Thursday announced that it has inked a deal with LightSquared will see 4G LTE services built out on its massive nationwide network. LightSquared will pay Sprint $9 billion over 15 years for the right to build out its LTE network using Sprint infrastructure, and Sprint will also get a total of $4.5 billion in credits toward LTE and satellite service. Equally important to the nation’s No. 3 carrier, the deal will allow it to save about $13 billion in network build-out costs and cover 260 million Americans with its 4G LTE service by 2015."
http://www.bgr.com/2011/07/28/sprint-announces-deal-to-adopt-4g-lte/
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Yeah, that's old news.
Were talking about this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1241021

mattykinsx said:
Yeah, that's old news.
Were talking about this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1241021
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Sprint will be using LTE but named differently to not "confuse" the consumer Jan 1st 2012
I call BULLSHxT!

Wimax isn't going away... It was designed as a back haul system... Wimax can carry alot more data than LTE because of the spectrum it uses but can't penetrate building worth a crap. Wimax makes an excellent tower to tower communications system that LTE could only dream of so the goal should be use both systems for there designed purpose.
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i talked to sprint the other day and they are already doing it, however they are actually in the proccess of building there own 4g network with the lte technology to be completed by 2018.

Sprint may end deal with Lightsquared

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...-end-to-deal-with-falcone-s-lightsquared.html
Sprint Said to Plan End to Deal With Falcone’s LightSquar
By Scott Moritz and Olga Kharif - Mar 7, 2012 1:32 PM PT
Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) plans to end a network-sharing agreement with billionaire Philip Falcone’s LightSquared Inc. (SKYT) wireless venture as early as next week, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Sprint is preparing to take the step as LightSquared approaches a March 15 deadline to meet certain conditions under the agreement, said the people, who wouldn’t be identified because the information isn’t public. Sprint and LightSquared struck an 11-year deal to share network expansion costs and equipment in June provided LightSquared secure regulatory approvals for its wireless service by December. Though Sprint pushed the deadline back, it doesn’t plan more extensions, the people said.
The Sprint Nextel Corp. sign is seen on facade of a Sprint Nextel Corp. store in San Francisco, California. The loss of Sprint would fuel concerns about the viability of LightSquared. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
The loss of Sprint would fuel concerns about the viability of LightSquared and mark another setback for Falcone. The hedge fund manager has invested about $3 billion from his Harbinger Capital Partners in LightSquared in an effort to create a national wireless carrier to compete against AT&T Inc. (T) and Verizon Wireless. Harbinger managed about $4 billion at the end of last year, down from a peak of $26 billion in mid-2008.
Terry Neal, a LightSquared spokesman, and Scott Sloat, a Sprint spokesman, declined to comment. Lew Phelps, a spokesman for Falcone, said he had no comment.
Sprint rose 1.7 percent to $2.43 at the close in New York. Another Sprint network partner, wholesale carrier Clearwire Corp. (CLWR), climbed 4.8 percent to $2.18.
FCC Decision
Under their agreement last year, Overland Park, Kansas- based Sprint was to build and operate LightSquared’s network for 11 years in exchange for $9 billion in payments and an additional $4.5 billion in service credits. Sprint extended the deal’s deadline as the Federal Communications Commission considered whether to allow LightSquared to convert airwaves originally designated for satellite service for communication with land-based, or terrestrial, radio towers.
The FCC said last month it would block LightSquared’s planned network because of potential disruptions to global- positioning systems. The company said after the decision that it remains committed to finding a solution to the concerns.
In the wake of that decision, Chief Executive Officer Sanjiv Ahuja resigned and Falcone was appointed to the board as the company began a search for a new CEO. The company also cut 45 percent of its 330-member staff to preserve cash.
Nokia Siemens Networks, the wireless-equipment venture of Finland’s Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) and Germany’s Siemens AG (SIE), today said it stopped work in 2011 on the network it was building for LightSquared.
Skipped Payment
“While we have a contract with LightSquared, they previously asked us to put our activities related to the network build on hold while they resolve” issues concerning the global- positioning technology, a Nokia Siemens spokesman, Ben Roome, said by e-mail. LightSquared originally planned to spend $7 billion over eight years on the network, it said in July 2010.
LightSquared, based in Reston, Virginia, has paid Sprint $310 million in advanced payments for work on the network and its eventual operation. Sprint said in a securities filing last month that it would keep about $236 million of those payments and return as much as $74 million if the agreement was terminated after the March 15 deadline. If LightSquared’s lenders approve changes to the agreement, Sprint’s right to terminate will be deferred until June 25, according to the filing.
Effect on Clearwire
Clearwire may benefit if Sprint’s relationship with LightSquared ends. With LightSquared out of the picture, Sprint would have to rely on Clearwire’s network to meet its users’ bandwidth demands, Jennifer Fritzsche, a senior analyst at Wells Fargo Securities, said in a note today.
“We believe this news is very much expected and should not be seen as an additional negative surprise for Sprint shares,” Fritzsche said in the note.
A Clearwire spokeswoman, Susan Johnston, declined to comment.
Last month, LightSquared skipped a $56.3 million payment to its partner Inmarsat Plc (ISAT), a British satellite operator, saying the work promised hadn’t been finished.
Falcone told Harbinger investors in February that LightSquared is still exploring remedies like signal-filtering technology and a possible swap of frequencies with the military. As of the end of January, Falcone carried his investment in LightSquared’s equity at $1.5 billion, or about half of what his hedge fund had invested to date, according to a Harbinger document.
The company has also hired Moelis & Co. and other advisers to help study alternatives.
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What would be the effect of this in the future for LTE deployment? Discuss.

I don't think it will fully effect future LTE development, Sprint in my opinion was using Lightsquared to advance LTE deployment to various regions.
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Sprint has already made the Galaxy Nexus with LTE official, when they first saw problems I am sure sprint installed a back up plan
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Sprint was just using this deal to help them expand faster I believe.
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masaidjet said:
I don't think it will fully effect future LTE development, Sprint in my opinion was using Lightsquared to advance LTE deployment to various regions.
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The company who owns clearwire (WiMaXX), actually is the beginning where LTE branched off and took its ideas and formed LTE, which in essence Clearwire actually started 4G, so every other carrier may have LTE but if sprint gets LTE they actually will be fixing AT&T and Verizon LTE Towers lol

XxLostSoulxX said:
The company who owns clearwire (WiMaXX), actually is the beginning where LTE branched off and took its ideas and formed LTE, which in essence Clearwire actually started 4G, so every other carrier may have LTE but if sprint gets LTE they actually will be fixing AT&T and Verizon LTE Towers lol
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What?
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XxLostSoulxX said:
The company who owns clearwire (WiMaXX), actually is the beginning where LTE branched off and took its ideas and formed LTE, which in essence Clearwire actually started 4G, so every other carrier may have LTE but if sprint gets LTE they actually will be fixing AT&T and Verizon LTE Towers lol
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Click to collapse
Clearwire is the long form of the marketed "Clear"
Wimax is the name of it's technology, not Company name.
LTE is different, and not the same, although currently claimed to be capable of speeds far greater than Wimax.
As for the towers, no comment there, I do recall hearing that towers are shared by companies with only their "boxes" to seperate signals but I don't know myself.
P.S. Clear doesn't need Sprint, while it did generate money, they have bigger affiliates and Investors. The contract between the two Is ending is all. Intel is one of them They're doing excellent in MetroPolitan areas.
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Shinydude100 said:
Clearwire is the long form of the marketed "Clear"
Wimax is the name of it's technology, not Company name.
LTE is different, and not the same, although currently claimed to be capable of speeds far greater than Wimax.
As for the towers, no comment there, I do recall hearing that towers are shared by companies with only their "boxes" to seperate signals but I don't know myself.
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I know wimaxx isn't company name, and towers yes ask sprint reps, LTe is based of Wimaxx.
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Shinydude100 said:
Clearwire is the long form of the marketed "Clear"
Wimax is the name of it's technology, not Company name.
LTE is different, and not the same, although currently claimed to be capable of speeds far greater than Wimax.
As for the towers, no comment there, I do recall hearing that towers are shared by companies with only their "boxes" to seperate signals but I don't know myself.
P.S. Clear doesn't need Sprint, while it did generate money, they have bigger affiliates and Investors. The contract between the two Is ending is all. Intel is one of them They're doing excellent in MetroPolitan areas.
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Clear lost a couple of its investors including google
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XxLostSoulxX said:
The company who owns clearwire (WiMaXX), actually is the beginning where LTE branched off and took its ideas and formed LTE, which in essence Clearwire actually started 4G, so every other carrier may have LTE but if sprint gets LTE they actually will be fixing AT&T and Verizon LTE Towers lol
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Click to collapse
Reading this makes my head in essence might branch off and Clearwire hurt LTE too.

rando991 said:
Reading this makes my head in essence might branch off and Clearwire hurt LTE too.
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Huh??? didn't quite understand what you meant?

Sprints going to LTE. They noticed that their speeds weren't fast enough and were losing customers because of..
-2348z Epic 4G-> CM9 Beta0

2348z said:
Sprints going to LTE. They noticed that their speeds weren't fast enough and were losing customers because of..
-2348z Epic 4G-> CM9 Beta0
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Did you not just read anything SPRINT doesn't care for customers, their selfish just like any other Carrier its all about the Moo-Laa and not about the loyalty.
They might keep it but the way sprint does everything who knows we might just stay with WiMaxx and SOL

XxLostSoulxX said:
Did you not just read anything SPRINT doesn't care for customers, their selfish just like any other Carrier its all about the Moo-Laa and not about the loyalty.
They might keep it but the way sprint does everything who knows we might just stay with WiMaxx and SOL
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Where did you this? I want a good laugh.
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