Sprint Nextel, Clearwire, Comcast, Intel & Google Create High-Speed Wireless Venture

[kstar]

This is significant news, IMO.

Excerpt:

Sprint Nextel Corp. announced a $12 billion joint venture for high-speed wireless service with Clearwire Corp. on Wednesday.

The deal received final investor approval Tuesday, but it still needs regulatory approval.

The agreement creates a new company that would use the Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR) name and offer traditional voice service plus wireless broadband access. The new company has raised $3.2 billion in outside financing, including $1.05 billion from Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA), $1 billion from Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC), $550 million from Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC), $500 million from Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) and $100 million from Bright House Networks. Clearwire was founded by wireless pioneer Craig McCaw.

Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) would have majority ownership, but Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse gave Clearwire the operational helm because some involved in the deal worried that Sprint could hinder the new company from competing for Sprint customers.

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2008/05/05/daily20.html

[nostatic]

the google handhelds will be next

[Mule]

I hear it's not going to work on Macs.

[Neilk]

Originally Posted by Mule

I hear it's not going to work on Macs.

Don't you mean iPhones?

[jriera]

WiMAX will be a nice thing for everyone, along with HSDPA and EVDO 3. Very soon (18 months or so) we will be able to have consistent 50 to 100 Gb wirelessly, mostly on laptops at the begining but phones/PDA's are next (battery life permitting)