Clearwire Corporation

Type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: CLWR
Industry	Wireless communications
Founded	Arlington, Texas, United States 1998 (1998)
Headquarters	Bellevue, Washington, United States
Area served	Belgium Spain United States
Key people	Erik Prusch (President/CEO) Hope Cochran (CFO) Broady Hodder (SVP General Counsel) Scott Hopper (SVP Strategy) Dr. John Saw (CTO) John W. Stanton (Executive Chairman)
Operating income	(US$2,391,237,000) (2011)
Net income	(US$357,668,000) (2011)
Total assets	US$8,842,652,000 (2011)
Total equity	US$3,646,038,000 (2011)
Employees	914 (2011)
Subsidiaries	Clearwire Belgium sprl Clearwire España S.A. Clearwire Communications LLC
Website	clearwire.com
References: [1][2][3][4][5]

Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) (stylized as clearw˙re) provides mobile and fixed wireless broadband communications services to retail and wholesale customers in Belgium, Spain and the United States. Clearwire traces its roots to 1998, when Sierra Technologies, Inc., spun off certain assets to form a new company, Clearwire Technologies Inc.^[6] In October 2003, Craig McCaw purchased Clearwire Technologies, Inc. parent company Clearwire Holdings and moved the company headquarters to Kirkland, Washington.^[7][8]

A large percentage of Clearwire shares are owned by a number of larger companies including Sprint Nextel, Comcast Corporation, Time Warner Cable Inc., Bright House Networks, LLC, Google Inc. and Intel Corporation. Sprint Nextel is Clearwire's largest single shareholder, owning a 48.1% combined stake.

Clearwire provides services to 88 markets in the United States covering 134 million potential subscribers. Clearwire owns rights to radio frequency spectrum in the 2.5 GHz range and provides service primarily using the 4G 802.16e mobile WiMax standard. Clearwire also provides service to customers in 17 U.S. cities using the Motorola Expedience 802.16d radio interface that the company refers to as "Pre-4G".^[1]

Clearwire provides service in Spain in the 3.4 - 3.6 GHz frequency range.^[9]

History[link]

Clearwire traces its roots to 1998, when Sierra Technologies, Inc. spun off certain assets to form a new company, Clearwire, Inc., based in Arlington, Texas. Clearwire Technologies was formed by a number of investors including Goldman Sachs and Edward "Rusty" Rose, a former co-managing partner of the Texas Rangers. Clearwire Technologies raised at least US$100 million and used it to acquire spectrum allocated to various educational institutions in the former Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS) band now known as EBS or Educational Broadband Service.^[10]

A holding company controlled by Craig McCaw, Flux LLC, acquired Clearwire Inc's then parent company, Clearwire Holdings, in March, 2004. After assuming control, McCaw installed executives from McCaw Cellular in the key leadership positions at Clearwire Corp.^[10]

Clearwire had grown from 1,000 customers in September 2004 to more than 443,000 customers by May 2008.^[11] Clearwire claimed in September 2006 that 20% of its markets have more than 10% penetration of households covered.

Clearwire took a $900 million infusion of capital from Intel and Motorola in July 2006, shortly after pulling its IPO.^[12] Clearwire's equipment manufacturer Nextnet Wireless was sold to Motorola as part of the exchange.^[13] This investment by these two industry giants had been reported as an attempt to accelerate the development and deployment of WiMAX networks worldwide.

An unspecified source claims that AT&T sold Clearwire a slice of 2.5 GHz spectrum for about $300 million. The spectrum covers markets in the southeast of the U.S. and was formerly owned by BellSouth. The spectrum solidifies Clearwire's position as the second largest holder of 2.5 GHz spectrum after Sprint Nextel. AT&T had to sell the spectrum as a condition of its merger with BellSouth.^{[citation needed]}

Clearwire and Sprint Nextel announced a partnership in July 2007 to accelerate deployment of WiMAX technology across the US.^[14] The deal was to include a swap of spectrum and markets between the two companies, as well as providing roaming capabilities for customers traveling between the companies' networks. The partnership was terminated at the end of 2007.^[15] In 2008, Sprint's new CEO Dan Hesse started serious discussions about forming a joint venture between the two companies in the hopes of bringing in outside funding from Google, Intel, and Best Buy.^[16] On March 26, 2008 an anonymous source stated that Sprint and Clearwire may get as much as $1 billion from Comcast and $500 million from Time Warner Cable in financial backing.^[17]

Clearwire filed for its initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission in May 2006 and went public Thursday, March 8, 2007. The company's underwriters included Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase. Trading began March 8, 2007 under the ticker symbol "CLWR" on the Nasdaq. Clearwire offered 24 million shares at $25 a share, and raised approximately US$600 million.^[18] Before the Sprint merger, Craig McCaw was the largest shareholder of the company with a majority of the shares.^[19]

On May 7, 2008, Clearwire and Sprint Nextel's wireless broadband unit Xohm announced their intent to merge, combining Sprint's 4G WiMAX network (Xohm) with Clearwire's existing pre-WiMAX broadband network. Sprint owns 54% of the firm,^[20] with ex-Clearwire shareholders owning 27% — a consortium of Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Intel, Google, and Bright House Networks invested $3.2 billion and own the balance.^[21] Clearwire and the cable companies will buy 3G mobile broadband from Sprint as MVNOs^{[citation needed]}. Clearwire/Sprint Nextel officially launched Portland, Oregon as the first market using the new service. Today, Clearwire's 4G service is branded CLEAR,^[22] except in those markets where the Clearwire name has already been established and where CLEAR service is not available.^[23] (However, it remains uncertain whether this new incarnation of Clearwire, controlled by Sprint, will still continue to offer the contractual conditions which have sparked class action lawsuits.) Today, CLEAR 4G is available in 35 of the top 40 MSAs in the country covering 130 million people.

On March 9, 2009 Clearwire named Bill Morrow as CEO, succeeding Benjamin Wolff, who became Co-Chairman with Craig McCaw. Morrow, 49, stepped down as CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric Company. Morrow had previously held a number of senior positions at Vodafone.^[24]

In April 2009, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Clearwire. The suit was dismissed in April 2009 but is being appealed by the complainant. The suit claimed that the company's actual Internet connection speeds were slower than advertised and was sometimes unavailable.^[25][26]

On December 31, 2010, McCaw resigned as Chairman of Clearwire and was replaced by John W. Stanton.^[27][28] On March 10, 2011, Bill Morrow resigned as CEO and was replaced by Interim CEO John W. Stanton.^[29] On August 10, 2011, Clearwire promoted COO Erik Prusch to President and CEO; named John Stanton Executive Chairman.^[30]

Clearwire had stated that it may not honor a $237 million debt covenant due on December 1, 2011 in order to conserve cash.^[31] However, on December 2, 2011, the company announced that not only had it made that payment, but it had made a new four year deal with Sprint to receive funding for network buildout and investments valued at $1.6 billion.

Networks[link]

Expedience WiMAX 802.16d - Pre-4G[link]

In 17 markets in the United States and certain markets in Belgium, Clearwire provides a service it refers to as "Pre-4G" using a Point-to-Multipoint system from Motorola called "Expedience", part of the MOTOwi4 family of products.^[32] The service is considered true Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS).

The service is not unique to Clearwire. Several companies throughout the world use this same product line from Motorola, including Inukshuk Wireless Partnership of Canada, Beamspeed and Commspeed of Arizona, AccessTEL of Bangladesh, and Unitel of Guatemala.

WiMAX 802.16e - 4G[link]

As with any ISP, the listed transfer rates are under ideal conditions; actual results vary greatly depending on factors such as service load, distance, and obstacles between the transmitter and receiver. Another factor is that available bandwidth is shared between users in a given radio sector, so if there are many active users in a single sector, each may receive reduced bandwidth.^[33]

Branded CLEAR, the company, on January 6, 2009, unveiled Portland, Oregon as its first 4G WiMAX wireless broadband market, enabling consumers and businesses to access the Internet, wirelessly, at broadband speeds.^[34]

Since the Portland launch, the company has expanded its 4G network to 87 additional markets.^[35]

Retail products and services[link]

4G Mobile and fixed wireless[link]

In the United States, Clearwire offers 4G fixed and mobile Internet access under the CLEAR brand in 88 cities. Clearwire claims an average download speed of 3 to 6 Mbit/s with bursts over 10 Mbit/s.^[36]

In January 2011, Clearwire started offering 4G WiMax service in Spain under the Instanet brand, discontinuing services based on Motorola Expedience technology.

Clearwire offers 4G WiMax service in Belgium under the Clearwire brand.

Expedience fixed wireless[link]

Clearwire offers Expedience based services in 17 markets in the United States and in certain markets in Belgium. Customers can choose either the Motorola Expedience Residential Subscriber Unit (RSU) or the Motorola Expedience PC Card in both the PC Card and ExpressCard form factors. The RSU incorporates automatic adaptive modulation for increased throughput and network capacity. Users are connected to the Internet at indoor locations throughout the entire system's coverage area. The unit functions as an Ethernet bridge (Layer 2) device, interfacing a standard Ethernet over twisted pair connector. The PC Card incorporates the same automatic adaptive modulation for increased throughput and network capacity with the added portability of a laptop CardBus card.

Clearwire formerly offered Expedience based services in Ireland & Denmark until operations in those countries were purchsed by Imagine Communications and ERLO Group, respectively. In January 2011 Clearwire discontinued services based on Motorola Expedience technology in Spain in favor of Instanet branded 4G WiMAX service.

VoIP[link]

Clearwire also offers its own Voice over IP service in some areas for an additional monthly fee.^[37]

Clear wireless retail store in New York City's Manhattan borough, New York, United States

Wholesale products and services[link]

Sprint Nextel, which owns 48.1% owner of Clearwire, resells Clearwire's 4G network service as Sprint 4G in over 70 markets across the United States.^[38] Other Clearwire investors Comcast and Time Warner Cable resell Clearwire’s 4G mobile broadband service in a number of markets, including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Portland among others bundled with their cable, home phone, and residential Internet services.^[39][40]

On June 4, 2010 Sprint introduced the first commercially available 4G cellphone in the U.S. the HTC EVO 4G. The device combines Clearwire’s 4G network with Sprint’s 3G network and Google’s Android operating system, creating a multimedia-heavy device Sprint hoped would set it apart from 3G smartphones like the Apple iPhone.^[41]

Criticism[link]

In 2005, Clearwire drew criticism from phone operator Vonage. Vonage claimed that Clearwire and other ISP's were blocking Vonage's services. Testing showed that contrary to Vonage's claims, Vonage calls were being connected over the Clearwire network.^[42]

In September 2010, Clearwire introduced a dynamic network management system to limit users who consume disproportionate amounts of wireless data. Certain users claimed that their terms of service were modified retroactively to reflect the new policy, and Clearwire itself has unofficially acknowledged this claim.^[43][44]

See also[link]

• Mobile broadband
• Wireless broadband
• Wireless internet service provider

References[link]

External links[link]

• Clearwire corporate homepage
• CLEAR U.S. products and services homepage
• Clearwire Belgium homepage
• Clearwire Spain homepage

• Clear Customer Service on Facebook on Facebook
• Clear Customer Service on Twitter on Twitter

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