From Good Day, BWIA - Friday in Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) / WiMAX News:
Last night the Wall Street Journal reported that Sprint Nextel and Clearwire have called off their proposed agreement to jointly build out a new, nationwide Broadband Wireless Internet Access network based on Mobile WiMAX technology. My take - this is just posturing, or more likely fumbling on the part of Sprint Nextel as they flail around trying to find a new CEO who can spin a good enough story to Sprint Nextel's board and shareholders that Sprint and Nextel's glory days can be restored. 1) Ain't gonna happen, 2) Sprint Nextel is under the gun, as a result of conditions it agreed to as part of the Sprint / Nextel merger, to actually deploy new services in its combined 2.5 GHz spectrum. Or else. 3) Clearwire's got the backing and vision to actually go build a nationwide Mobile WiMAX network; Sprint doesn't have a fraction of that vision and to do so, it's going to have to actively fight its most activist shareholders... riiiggghhhttt. Sprint will spin it, of course, but in the end Clearwire's going to end up with Sprint's 2.5 GHz spectrum. Sliding further out on my limb... my guess for Sprint Nextel's new CEO? Craig McCaw. Oops... he's already spoken for with Clearwire? Well, that problem is easily solved with the simple expedient of Sprint Nextel acquiring Clearwire. You heard it here first.
By Steve Stroh
This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh except for specifically-marked excerpts. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged).
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