Higher costs impact Clearwire's Q2 numbers

Clearwire's stock took a hit after reporting second-quarter earnings that saw the WiMAX operator spending more in the quarter to add subscribers. Clearwire reported a net loss in the second quarter of $118.1 million or 72 cents per share, compared with $76.8 million, or $1.01 per share, in the second quarter 2006. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial forecasted a loss of 59 cents a share for the second quarter ending June 30.

The operator added 41,000 subscribers, increasing the total number of subscribers to 299,000. The net additions were less than some analysts had expected. That figure was down from 52,000 net additions in the first quarter [1].

Sales more than doubled to $35.5 million from $15.4 million the previous year. The company also launched five new markets and increased its coverage network by over 1.5 million people. The cost per gross addition is what concerned many analysts. Clearwire paid about $343 per subscriber in the first quarter, and that number jumped to $471 in the second quarter. Those costs were about $13 million more than expected.

For more about Clearwire's second-quarter results:
- read this release [2]
- check out this article [3] from Forbes

Related articles:
- Sprint and Clearwire merge WiMAX networks [4]
- Clearwire secures first portion of $1B term loan [5]
- Clearwire's deal with satellite players [6] a hint of the future?