Clearwire
Encyclopedia
Clearwire Corporation is a wireless internet service provider (WISP) serving markets in the United States
, Belgium
, and Spain
. Clearwire, founded by cellular phone pioneer Craig McCaw
in October 2003 is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington
.
Clearwire primarily uses a wireless technology called WiMAX
transmitted from cell site
s over licensed spectrum of 2.5–2.6 GHz in the United States
.
In the United States
, Clearwire offers CLEAR 4G service with average download speeds of 3 to 6 Mbps with bursts over 10 Mbps. Actual CLEAR network performance may vary and is not guaranteed.
Clearwire also offers its own Voice over IP
service in some areas for an additional monthly fee. 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. Most plans require a 2 year contract. Any contract cancellation after 30 days of service results in a $185 cancellation fee for Expedience Internet Service and either a $40 restocking fee per device (if devices are leased) or a $65, pro-rated $2.50/month per device (if equipment is purchased) cancellation fee for the CLEAR WiMAX Service.
Licensed Point-to-Multipoint
Expedience system, which is part of the MOTOwi4 family of products. They also offered the same service in Ireland (until purchased by Imagine Communications
) & Denmark (until purchased by ERLO Group and operating as Skyline) also. The service is considered true Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS). 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. The service is not unique to Clearwire. Several companies throughout the world use this same product line from Motorola. For instance: Inukshuk Wireless Partnership of Canada, Beamspeed and Commspeed of Arizona, AccessTEL of Bangladesh, and Unitel
of Guatemala all use the same type of service and equipment.
as its first 4G WiMAX wireless broadband market, enabling consumers and businesses to access the Internet, wirelessly, at broadband speeds.
Since the Portland launch, the company has expanded its 4G
network to additional markets including: San Francisco, Sacramento, Merced, Visalia, Los Angeles, Modesto and Stockton, Calif.; Denver, Colo.; Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford, Conn.; central Washington, D.C.; Wilmington, Del.; Miami, Tampa Bay, Orlando, Daytona Beach and Jacksonville, Fla.; Atlanta and Milledgeville, Ga.; Honolulu and Maui, Hawaii; Boise, Idaho; Chicago, Ill.; Boston, Mass.; Baltimore, Md.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.; St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo.; Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro, N.C.; Trenton and New Brunswick, N.J.; New York, Syracuse and Rochester, N.Y.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland, Ohio; Salem, Portland and Eugene, Ore.; Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Reading, Lancaster and York, Pa.; Providence, R.I.; Nashville, Tenn.; Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Abilene, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Waco and Wichita Falls, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; Richmond, Va.; Seattle, Tri-Cities, Yakima and Bellingham, Wash.
Sprint, Clearwire's largest investor, resells Clearwire's 4G network service as Sprint 4G in over 70 markets across the United States.
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.
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 hopes will set it apart from 3G smartphones like the Apple iPhone.
In January 2011, Clearwire started offering 4G WiMAX service in Spain under the brand Instanet instead of the Expedience service that it was previously offering before that.
-based company then known as Clearwire Technologies, Inc. (owned by Clearwire Holdings). Clearwire Technologies was formed by a number of investors including Edward "Rusty" Rose, once a co-managing partner of the Texas Rangers
. Clearwire Technologies raised at least $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.
Clearwire Corp. as it is now known was born when Craig McCaw's holding company, Flux LLC, acquired Clearwire Holdings in March, 2004. McCaw installed executives from his McCaw Cellular as the new Clearwire Corp. leadership.
Clearwire had grown from 1,000 customers in September 2004 to more than 443,000 customers across its markets, as of May 2008. 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. Clearwire's equipment manufacturer Nextnet Wireless was sold to Motorola as part of the exchange. 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.
Clearwire and Sprint Nextel announced a partnership in July 2007 to accelerate deployment of WiMAX technology across the US. 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. 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. 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.
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. Before the Sprint merger, Craig McCaw was the largest shareholder of the company with a majority of the shares.
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, 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. Clearwire and the cable companies will buy 3G mobile broadband from Sprint as MVNOs
. Clearwire/Sprint Nextel officially launched Portland, Oregon
as the first market using the new service. Today Clearwire's 4G service is branded CLEAR, except in those markets where the Clearwire name has already been established and where CLEAR service is not available. (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.
On December 31, 2010, McCaw resigned as Chairman of Clearwire and was replaced by John W. Stanton
. On March 10, 2011, Bill Morrow resigned as CEO and was replaced by Interim CEO John W. Stanton
.. On August 10, 2011, Clearwire promoted COO Erik Prusch to President and CEO; named John Stanton Executive Chairman.
Clearwire has stated that it may not honor a $237 million debt covenant due on December 1, 2011 in order to conserve cash. The company has $698 million in cash, so is able to pay. However, Clearwire will need to raise significant capital in the coming year to continue ongoing operations.
, who claimed the network, among others, was blocking their services. Clearwire did not immediately respond to the claim, even though subsequent testing showed that Vonage calls were indeed being connected over the Clearwire network. It could be argued that providers of high-bandwidth wireless services such as Clearwire are threatened by VoIP providers who utilize the internet link to compete on the same market.
In April, 2009, a class-action lawsuit
was filed against Clearwire. The complaint alleges that the company's advertisements are deceptive in their promises of fast, reliable Internet access, and of Internet-based telephone service that's superior to conventional wired phone service
. More specifically, it alleges that consumers of the firm's Internet access service frequently experience speeds that are as slow as those available with a dial-up modem, and that both Internet access and Internet telephone service are often entirely unavailable. The lawsuit also claims that when consumers try to cancel their contracts for these or any other reasons, the company charges a pro-rata early termination fee of up to $220, and that this fee cannot be lawfully imposed or collected. Clearwire declined to comment on these allegations, citing corporate policy. The claim has since been dismissed by the judge and is currently on appeal.
In September 2010, Clearwire introduced a dynamic network management system which limits users who consume disproportionate amounts of wireless data. Many users have reported that their terms of service were modified retroactively to reflect the new policy, and Clearwire itself has unofficially acknowledged this. In December of the same year, a class-action lawsuit was filed in Washington alleging deceptive advertising concerning the company's policies of bandwidth throttling
and not disclosing early-termination charges.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Clearwire, founded by cellular phone pioneer Craig McCaw
Craig McCaw
Craig McCaw is a Seattle-area businessman and entrepreneur who achieved success as a pioneer in the cellular phone industry. He is the founder of McCaw Cellular and Clearwire Corporation.-Early life and cable TV beginnings:Craig is the second of four sons of Marion and John Elroy McCaw...
in October 2003 is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...
.
Clearwire primarily uses a wireless technology called WiMAX
WiMAX
WiMAX is a communication technology for wirelessly delivering high-speed Internet service to large geographical areas. The 2005 WiMAX revision provided bit rates up to 40 Mbit/s with the 2011 update up to 1 Gbit/s for fixed stations...
transmitted from cell site
Cell site
A cell site is a term used to describe a site where antennas and electronic communications equipment are placed, usually on a radio mast, tower or other high place, to create a cell in a cellular network...
s over licensed spectrum of 2.5–2.6 GHz in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Services
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Clearwire offers CLEAR 4G service with average download speeds of 3 to 6 Mbps with bursts over 10 Mbps. Actual CLEAR network performance may vary and is not guaranteed.
Clearwire also offers its own Voice over IP
Voice over IP
Voice over Internet Protocol is a family of technologies, methodologies, communication protocols, and transmission techniques for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol networks, such as the Internet...
service in some areas for an additional monthly fee. 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. Most plans require a 2 year contract. Any contract cancellation after 30 days of service results in a $185 cancellation fee for Expedience Internet Service and either a $40 restocking fee per device (if devices are leased) or a $65, pro-rated $2.50/month per device (if equipment is purchased) cancellation fee for the CLEAR WiMAX Service.
Expedience Technology
In pre-WiMAX markets in the U.S. and Belgium, Clearwire uses the MotorolaMotorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
Licensed Point-to-Multipoint
Point-to-multipoint
Point-to-multipoint communication is a term that is used in the telecommunications field which refers to communication which is accomplished via a specific and distinct type of one-to-many connection, providing multiple paths from a single location to multiple locations.Point-to-multipoint is often...
Expedience system, which is part of the MOTOwi4 family of products. They also offered the same service in Ireland (until purchased by Imagine Communications
Imagine Communications
Imagine Communications is an Irish internet service provider and telecommunications operator, who provide WiMAX, wireless broadband and resell Eircom telecommunications wholesale packages...
) & Denmark (until purchased by ERLO Group and operating as Skyline) also. The service is considered true Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS). Customers can choose either the Motorola Expedience Residential Subscriber Unit (RSU) or the Motorola Expedience PC Card in both the PC Card
PC Card
In computing, PC Card is the form factor of a peripheral interface designed for laptop computers. The PC Card standard was defined and developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association which itself was created by a number of computer industry companies in the United States...
and ExpressCard
ExpressCard
ExpressCard is an interface to allow peripheral devices to be connected to a computer, usually a laptop computer. Formerly called NEWCARD, the ExpressCard standard specifies the design of slots built into the computer and of cards which can be inserted into ExpressCard slots. The cards contain...
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
Ethernet over twisted pair
Ethernet over twisted pair technologies use twisted-pair cables for the physical layer of an Ethernet computer network. Other Ethernet cable standards employ coaxial cable or optical fiber. Early versions developed in the 1980s included StarLAN followed by 10BASE-T. By the 1990s, fast, inexpensive...
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. The service is not unique to Clearwire. Several companies throughout the world use this same product line from Motorola. For instance: Inukshuk Wireless Partnership of Canada, Beamspeed and Commspeed of Arizona, AccessTEL of Bangladesh, and Unitel
Unitel
Unitel may refer to:*Unitel Communications Incorporated, a Canadian telecommunications company later known as AT&T Canada.*Unitel Bolivia, a Bolivian television network*Unitel , a Mongolian mobile phone network*Unitel...
of Guatemala all use the same type of service and equipment.
4G WiMAX Service
Branded CLEAR, the company, on January 6, 2009, unveiled Portland, OregonPortland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
as its first 4G WiMAX wireless broadband market, enabling consumers and businesses to access the Internet, wirelessly, at broadband speeds.
Since the Portland launch, the company has expanded its 4G
4G
In telecommunications, 4G is the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards. It is a successor to the 3G and 2G families of standards. In 2009, the ITU-R organization specified the IMT-Advanced requirements for 4G standards, setting peak speed requirements for 4G service at 100 Mbit/s...
network to additional markets including: San Francisco, Sacramento, Merced, Visalia, Los Angeles, Modesto and Stockton, Calif.; Denver, Colo.; Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford, Conn.; central Washington, D.C.; Wilmington, Del.; Miami, Tampa Bay, Orlando, Daytona Beach and Jacksonville, Fla.; Atlanta and Milledgeville, Ga.; Honolulu and Maui, Hawaii; Boise, Idaho; Chicago, Ill.; Boston, Mass.; Baltimore, Md.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.; St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo.; Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro, N.C.; Trenton and New Brunswick, N.J.; New York, Syracuse and Rochester, N.Y.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland, Ohio; Salem, Portland and Eugene, Ore.; Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Reading, Lancaster and York, Pa.; Providence, R.I.; Nashville, Tenn.; Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Abilene, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Waco and Wichita Falls, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; Richmond, Va.; Seattle, Tri-Cities, Yakima and Bellingham, Wash.
Sprint, Clearwire's largest investor, resells Clearwire's 4G network service as Sprint 4G in over 70 markets across the United States.
Clearwire investors Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
and Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
resell Clearwire’s 4G mobile broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
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.
On June 4, 2010 Sprint introduced the first commercially available 4G cellphone in the U.S. the HTC EVO 4G
HTC Evo 4G
The HTC Evo 4G is a smartphone developed by HTC Corporation and marketed as Sprint's flagship Android smartphone, running on its WiMAX network...
. The device combines Clearwire’s 4G network with Sprint’s 3G network and Google’s Android operating system, creating a multimedia-heavy device Sprint hopes will set it apart from 3G smartphones like the Apple iPhone.
In January 2011, Clearwire started offering 4G WiMAX service in Spain under the brand Instanet instead of the Expedience service that it was previously offering before that.
History
The forerunner of Clearwire was an Arlington, TexasArlington, Texas
Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas within the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. According to the 2010 census results, the city had a population of 365,438, making it the third largest municipality in the Metroplex...
-based company then known as Clearwire Technologies, Inc. (owned by Clearwire Holdings). Clearwire Technologies was formed by a number of investors including Edward "Rusty" Rose, once a co-managing partner of the Texas Rangers
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
. Clearwire Technologies raised at least $100 million and used it to acquire spectrum
Electromagnetic spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. The "electromagnetic spectrum" of an object is the characteristic distribution of electromagnetic radiation emitted or absorbed by that particular object....
allocated to various educational institutions in the former Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS)
Instructional Television Fixed Service
The Educational Broadband Service was formerly known as the Instructional Television Fixed Service . ITFS was a band of twenty microwave channels available to be licensed by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to local credit granting educational institutions...
band now known as EBS or Educational Broadband Service.
Clearwire Corp. as it is now known was born when Craig McCaw's holding company, Flux LLC, acquired Clearwire Holdings in March, 2004. McCaw installed executives from his McCaw Cellular as the new Clearwire Corp. leadership.
Clearwire had grown from 1,000 customers in September 2004 to more than 443,000 customers across its markets, as of May 2008. 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
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
in July 2006, shortly after pulling its IPO. Clearwire's equipment manufacturer Nextnet Wireless was sold to Motorola as part of the exchange. This investment by these two industry giants had been reported as an attempt to accelerate the development and deployment of WiMAX
WiMAX
WiMAX is a communication technology for wirelessly delivering high-speed Internet service to large geographical areas. The 2005 WiMAX revision provided bit rates up to 40 Mbit/s with the 2011 update up to 1 Gbit/s for fixed stations...
networks worldwide.
An unspecified source claims that AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
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
BellSouth
BellSouth Corporation is an American telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies after the U.S...
. The spectrum solidifies Clearwire's position as the second largest holder of 2.5 GHz spectrum after Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...
. AT&T had to sell the spectrum as a condition of its merger with BellSouth.
Clearwire and Sprint Nextel announced a partnership in July 2007 to accelerate deployment of WiMAX technology across the US. 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. 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. On March 26, 2008 an anonymous source stated that Sprint and Clearwire may get as much as $1 billion from Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
and $500 million from Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
in financial backing.
Clearwire filed for its initial public offering
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
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. Before the Sprint merger, Craig McCaw was the largest shareholder of the company with a majority of the shares.
On May 7, 2008, Clearwire and Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...
's wireless broadband unit Xohm
Xohm
XOHM was the brand name Sprint Nextel Corporation was using to promote its WiMAX services, currently labelled by Sprint Nextel simply as 4G. Sprint was the first service provider in the United States, with its partner Clearwire, to announce the building of a mobile WiMAX network...
announced their intent to merge, combining Sprint's 4G WiMAX
WiMAX
WiMAX is a communication technology for wirelessly delivering high-speed Internet service to large geographical areas. The 2005 WiMAX revision provided bit rates up to 40 Mbit/s with the 2011 update up to 1 Gbit/s for fixed stations...
network (Xohm) with Clearwire's existing pre-WiMAX broadband network. Sprint owns 54% of the firm, with ex-Clearwire shareholders owning 27% — a consortium of Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
, Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
, Intel, Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, and Bright House Networks
Bright House Networks
Bright House Networks is a cable television company, the seventh largest cable operator and the sixth largest traditional multiple system operator in the United States owned by Advance/Newhouse, headquartered in Syracuse, New York...
invested $3.2 billion and own the balance. Clearwire and the cable companies will buy 3G mobile broadband from Sprint as MVNOs
Mobile virtual network operator
A mobile virtual network operator is a company that provides mobile phone services but does not have its own licensed frequency allocation of radio spectrum, nor does it necessarily have all of the infrastructure required to provide mobile telephone service...
. Clearwire/Sprint Nextel officially launched Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
as the first market using the new service. Today Clearwire's 4G service is branded CLEAR, except in those markets where the Clearwire name has already been established and where CLEAR service is not available. (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
Craig McCaw
Craig McCaw is a Seattle-area businessman and entrepreneur who achieved success as a pioneer in the cellular phone industry. He is the founder of McCaw Cellular and Clearwire Corporation.-Early life and cable TV beginnings:Craig is the second of four sons of Marion and John Elroy McCaw...
. Morrow, 49, stepped down as CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric Company. Morrow had previously held a number of senior positions at Vodafone.
On December 31, 2010, McCaw resigned as Chairman of Clearwire and was replaced by John W. Stanton
John W. Stanton
John W. Stanton is the founder and former CEO of Western Wireless Corporation, former chairman and CEO of VoiceStream Wireless, and former chairman of the CTIA. John is listed as #82 in the Forbes 2001 "Richest People" study. It is estimated his net worth US$1.1 billion...
. On March 10, 2011, Bill Morrow resigned as CEO and was replaced by Interim CEO John W. Stanton
John W. Stanton
John W. Stanton is the founder and former CEO of Western Wireless Corporation, former chairman and CEO of VoiceStream Wireless, and former chairman of the CTIA. John is listed as #82 in the Forbes 2001 "Richest People" study. It is estimated his net worth US$1.1 billion...
.. On August 10, 2011, Clearwire promoted COO Erik Prusch to President and CEO; named John Stanton Executive Chairman.
Clearwire has stated that it may not honor a $237 million debt covenant due on December 1, 2011 in order to conserve cash. The company has $698 million in cash, so is able to pay. However, Clearwire will need to raise significant capital in the coming year to continue ongoing operations.
Criticism and Legal Action
In 2005, Clearwire drew criticism from phone operator VonageVonage
Vonage is a publicly held commercial voice over IP network and SIP company that provides telephone service via a broadband connection. The company's name is a play on their motto "Voice-Over-Net-AGE"....
, who claimed the network, among others, was blocking their services. Clearwire did not immediately respond to the claim, even though subsequent testing showed that Vonage calls were indeed being connected over the Clearwire network. It could be argued that providers of high-bandwidth wireless services such as Clearwire are threatened by VoIP providers who utilize the internet link to compete on the same market.
In April, 2009, a class-action lawsuit
Class action
In law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued...
was filed against Clearwire. The complaint alleges that the company's advertisements are deceptive in their promises of fast, reliable Internet access, and of Internet-based telephone service that's superior to conventional wired phone service
Plain old telephone service
Plain old telephone service is the voice-grade telephone service that remains the basic form of residential and small business service connection to the telephone network in many parts of the world....
. More specifically, it alleges that consumers of the firm's Internet access service frequently experience speeds that are as slow as those available with a dial-up modem, and that both Internet access and Internet telephone service are often entirely unavailable. The lawsuit also claims that when consumers try to cancel their contracts for these or any other reasons, the company charges a pro-rata early termination fee of up to $220, and that this fee cannot be lawfully imposed or collected. Clearwire declined to comment on these allegations, citing corporate policy. The claim has since been dismissed by the judge and is currently on appeal.
In September 2010, Clearwire introduced a dynamic network management system which limits users who consume disproportionate amounts of wireless data. Many users have reported that their terms of service were modified retroactively to reflect the new policy, and Clearwire itself has unofficially acknowledged this. In December of the same year, a class-action lawsuit was filed in Washington alleging deceptive advertising concerning the company's policies of bandwidth throttling
Bandwidth throttling
Bandwidth throttling is a reactive measure employed in communication networks to regulate network traffic and minimize bandwidth congestion. Bandwidth throttling can occur at different locations on the network. On a local area network , a sysadmin may employ bandwidth throttling to help limit...
and not disclosing early-termination charges.
External links
- Clearwire United States homepage (company site & U.S. pre-WiMAX service home)
- CLEAR homepage (U.S. WiMAX service home)
- Clearwire Belgium homepage
- Clearwire Spain homepage
- CLEAR Customer Service on Facebook
- CLEAR Customer Service on Twitter