Judgment: It is official. The partnership went through. The community was correct by predicting that this would indeed occur. --The Industry Standard
Sprint Nextel and Clearwire had a WiMAX network infrastructure and spectrum sharing "letter of intent" in place for much of last year but the deal fell apart in 4Q07 due to a number of issues (rumored to be related to revenue sharing terms and network rollout responsibility/timeline differences).
However, both companies continue to build out WiMAX networks in complementary geographies, and particularly since The Wall Street Journal reported in January that talks had resumed and Intel was close to an additional $2 billion investment, speculation has picked up that a new Sprint-Clearwire deal will be struck.
An announcement might be made at the CTIA show in April, as might commercial WiMAX service availability in a couple markets from Sprint Nextel, but given that company's current financial woes, it's possible a new Clearwire agreement won't materialize in the near term.
This is a prediction that a Sprint Nextel and Clearwire WiMAX network/service partnership will be announced before July 1, 2008
Update: The WSJ has it that an announcement is pending in the very near future.
| Betting Closes: | Jul 01 2008 | Current Consensus: | 66.82% | Total Bets: | 23 |
| Today's Change: | 5.76% | ||||
| Life Time High: | 74.08% | ||||
| Life Time Low: | 50.00% |
Comments
This seems to be moving forward. In fact, it could be announced as soon as next week.
Whatever Happened To Sprint's WiMax Venture?
Notable news from the CTIA wireless conference in Las Vegas today (aside from FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's dismissal of Skype's open wireless petition) was the lack of news from Sprint Nextel on its WiMax venture with Clearwire, cable operators Comcast and Time Warner and Silicon Valley giants Google and Intel.
As you'll see in the update above, some of you are probably going to make a lot of money on this over the next few hours ;) The stock is at 61% currently, but we're not going to close it (yet) because the WSJ article isn't definitive, and the prediction close isn't until July 1. However, just so you know, we're digging for details and will make a judgment as soon as we have confirmation. At the same time, be forewarned -- the two companies got exactly this close last year and the thing fell through at the last minute: http://seekingalpha.com/article/53636-sprint-clearwire-wimax-pact-falls-...
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