Clearwire's mobile WiMAX live in Philadelphia

While Clearwire officially launched commercial mobile WiMAX service in the smaller markets of Milledgeville, Ga., and [1]Salem, Ore., it also showed on its web site that service is now live in Philadelphia--the company's biggest market to date.

It's the same strategy Clearwire has incorporate with all of its launches of major markets, including Atlanta and Las Vegas. A quiet launch comes before a large marketing blitz.

The fourth quarter is showtime for Clearwire. In announcing its second-quarter results in August, Clearwire CEO William  said Clearwire's fourth-quarter subscriber additions should exceed all other 2009 quarters combined. It added just 12,000 subscribers in the second quarter as the company stopped marketing pre-WiMAX services.

Morrow has been particularly upbeat about the wholesale side of the business as Comcast plans to be aggressive in rolling out WiMAX offerings and Sprint Nextel has the intention of selling WiMAX as part of its 3G/4G hybrid service offerings.

In another bit of WiMAX news, Sprint--which acts as an MVNO of Clearwire and has been mirroring the company's mobile WiMAX market launches with its own branded Sprint 4G service--announced several new market launches of its own. The carrier said Sprint 4G is now available in Amarillo, Abilene, Corpus Christi, Killeen-Temple, Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, Waco and Wichita Falls, Texas; as well as Milledgeville, Ga., and Salem, Ore., following Clearwire's decision to light up those markets. 

For more:
- see Clearwire's site [1]

Related articles:
Clearwire [2] adds 12,000 subs in 2Q
Clearwire's success hinges on wholesale offerings [3]
Clearwire CEO [4]: 'We're in the sweet spot'