Clearwire plans to add eight markets in 2009, NY and SF in 2010

March 5, 2009 at 4:04 PM by Paul Kapustka

A quick recap of the Clearwire earnings announcement and conference call:

Clearwire will launch eight new mobile WiMax markets over the rest of 2009, beginning with Atlanta and Las Vegas by this summer, followed by new launches in Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth and Philadelphia later in the year; Clearwire will also add mobile WiMax services to its existing pre-WiMax services in Seattle, Honolulu and the Charlotte, N.C., urban area. It will also re-launch the existing “Xohm” market in Baltimore as a Clearwire-branded entity, also later in the year.

In 2010, Clearwire plans to add mobile WiMax services in additional markets, including New York, San Francisco, Boston, Washington, D.C. and Houston, along with more of its existing pre-WiMax markets. Clearwire said it may speed or slow deployments based on the availability of capital.

Clearwire says it has enough capital on hand to fund these plans, and plans to spend between $1.5 billion and $1.9 billion during 2009.

Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff said that seeking government funding from the stimulus bill is a possibility, but that Clearwire’s current buildout plans do not factor in any government money.

Clearwire will offer a “personal hot spot,” a mobile router that combines WiMax access with Wi-Fi broadcast capability, by the end of March. It will offer a dual-mode 3G/4G laptop card by this summer, which will work on the Sprint 3G network when not connected to Clearwire’s WiMax service.

1. Esme Vos Says: March 6th, 2009 at 11:16 am
But where are their subscriber numbers for Baltimore?

2. Paul Kapustka Says: March 6th, 2009 at 11:19 am
UPON FURTHER REVIEW: The Clearwire folks CONFIRMED today that the 5,000 new subs reported for Q4 DOES include subscription numbers for Baltimore. It’s extremely low, but that also reflects the almost complete lack of marketing since the “Xohm” operations were combined with Clearwire in November. Clearwire did say it planned to “relaunch” the Baltimore market later this year under the “Clear” brand. More soon from our follow-up interview with Scott Richardson, where he talked about the difference in philosophies between Sprint’s original plans and Clearwire’s current strategies.

Clearwire plans to add eight markets in 2009, NY and SF in 2010 | MuniWireless

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