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Aug. 7, 2008

Yesterday, Sprint and Clearwire continued to strongly defend plans for their New Clearwire merger.

Filings by AT&T and other telecoms question potentially strong and competitive threats from the future mobile WiMAX company.

The proposed merger is for Sprint to own 51 percent of Clearwire, currently a fixed Wi-MAX company, which would get $3.2 billion in additional backing from Bright House Networks, Comcast, Google, Intel and Time Warner Cable.

AT&T, voice-over-IP specialist Vonage and the Rural Cellular Association (RCA) all expressed official doubts as well. AT&T said it’s not opposed to the merger per se, but that the FCC should impose special conditions and oversight to avoid granting a national wireless broadband monopoly.

AT&T has its own plans for wireless broadband service planned for next year, as do Verizon Wireless and a few others.

Officials from Sprint and Clearwire argued that it’s good for the U.S. and said “if the new Clearwire merger ultimately is successful, it will be a significant step in ensuring the U.S. will emerge as the unquestioned world leader in broadband penetration, pricing, innovation and choice. However, meeting this challenge requires a swift kick-in-the-competition.”

A separate filing by Google contains essentially the same sentiment.

At the same time, Vonage and the Rural Cellular Association want to ensure that Clearwire retains its unbundled service and roaming guarantees, respectively.

Clearwire and Sprint said that “these conditions are unwarranted and unnecessary. The new company already stated its plans to unbundle and seek roaming deals."

Additionally, there shouldn't be any technical interference either, because the 2.5 GHz spectrum Clearwire intends to use is very different from other similar systems, the companies both said. Parts of that spectrum are reserved by the FCC for educational broadcasters.

But some educational groups filed in support of the merger, Sprint spokesman Scott Sloat noted.

Sloat also said he expects more filings from both sides no later than Aug. 10, ahead of the final deadline of Aug. 11.

A final FCC decision about the Sprint / Clearwire merger is expected in the fourth quarter.

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Source: The FCC.