Tuesday, May 6,2008 @ 6:25pm
Sprint nears closure on $12b WiMax deal
Sprint is nearing closure on a $12 billion joint venture with Clearwire, backed by industry giants such as Intel, Google, Time Warner, and Comcast, among others. The Wall Street Journal reveals that Sprint would merge its wireless broadband services with Clearwire, after raising a total of $3.2 billion from the aforementioned technology and wireless firms, of which the final approval was given Tuesday. The announcement could come as soon as Wednesday, according to insiders.
The deal still requires approval from regulators, but would give all firms involved a chance to construct the future of mobile internet access, as well as provide the firms with expanded revenue generation by diversifying business stratagems. It also gives WiMax a chance to propagate in the face of competition from Long Term Evolution (LTE).
For Sprint, the deal allows the company to compete with, and surpass in some ways, competitors AT&T and Verizon Wireless, who currently look to 3G wireless standards, offering an eighth of the speed of WiMax.