Clearwire hoping to raise $2.5 billion by selling spectrum
updated 04:20 pm EDT, Wed October 13, 2010
Clearwire holding spectrum auction to raise $2.5b
Clearwire is looking to raise between $2.5 and $5 billion by selling wireless spectrum in an auction, according to a Wednesday report. Potential buyers include AT&T, Verizon, Deutsche Telekom, Time Warner Cable and Clearwire's majority owner, Sprint, said unnamed sources for Bloomberg. Bidding is currently in the second round, with Deutsche Bank managing the negotiations.
Clearwire is trying to secure funding to build out its 4G WiMAX network, and was involved in talks with T-Mobile recently. The carrier will need to secure about $2 billion by year's end in order to pay for network construction, analysts believed.
Up for sale is as much as 40MHz of spectrum per market, which is a small fraction of the spectrum Clearwire owns.
Current shareholders include Sprint, Google, Time Warner Cable and Comcast Corp.
