Sprint Nextel and Clearwire have announced that they will jointly construct their WiMAX networks and eventually sell the services jointly under one brand. The deal still needs to gain approval by the Department of Justice and the FCC because the companies plan on exchanging selected 2.5 GHz spectrum license assignments.
Under the network build-out plan, Sprint Nextel will focus its efforts primarily on geographic areas covering approximately 185 million people, including 75 percent of the people located in the 50 largest markets, while Clearwire will focus on areas covering approximately 115 million people. Initially, the two companies expect to build out network coverage to approximately 100 million people by the end of 2008, with seamless roaming enabled between the deployed areas.
"Our joint efforts will result in customers benefiting from a more extensive network, operating sooner and using our respective spectrum more efficiently than either company could have on its own," said Clearwire Chief Executive Officer Ben Wolff.
The companies will sell services under one brand and Clearwire will sell subscriptions to the service at Sprint locations within Clearwire's territories. Sprint plans to provide dual-mode (CDMA-WiMAX) services nationwide to its customers both on its own and Clearwire's portion of the WiMAX networks.
For more:
- read this release [1]
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/press-release-sprint-nextel-clearwire-partner-expand-deployment-first-nationwide-mobi