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Dec. 1, 2008

The merger of Sprint Nextel’s Wi-MAX properties with Clearwire is now officially completed, and the new company will brand its services as Clear.

Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff said his company fully understands that many larger companies aspire to do what it does.

However, he also said Clearwire has some distinct advantages, including its vast spectrum holdings, all-IP network technology and open Internet business model.

The transaction creates a new independent company that received $3.2 billion in cash from Comcast, Intel, Time Warner Cable, Google and Bright House Networks.

The terms were basically the same as those previously announced earlier in April.

Clearwire has pre WiMAX networks in forty-six markets and plans to upgrade them next year. It has a mobile WiMAX network in Baltimore, and expects to start adding mobile WiMAX customers in Portland, Ore., this month with a full commercial launch early in 2009.

The company also is asking consumers to e-mail it with areas where they’d like to see Clearwire build out.

The company chose the Clear brand because it’s a simple, commonly used word with significance in communications and part of the company’s name, he said.

The company also unveiled a new marketing tagline, "Let's Be Clear," that will be used in conjunction with the new Clear service brand in upcoming market launches.

Wolff said the company also is taking steps to make sure the network is future-proof, and given that LTE and WiMAX have a lot in common, he suggested it’s possible that Clearwire will use both WiMAX and LTE several years down the line.

The WiMAX versus LTE technology decision isn’t the technology war that some have made it out to be, he said. “This isn’t a case where one technology will win and one will lose,” he said.

Clearwire Chairman Craig McCaw said Clearwire is building a broadband network that will stand the test of both time and competition.

“This is far and away the most exciting opportunity in wireless I have seen since the beginning of cellular in 1983,” he said.

Wolff will continue to serve as Clearwire's CEO, and Perry Satterlee continues as the company's COO.

Barry West, who served as Sprint's chief technology officer and Xohm business unit leader, is now president and chief architect of Clearwire, and Atish Gude, formerly senior vice president of Sprint's Xohm mobile broadband operations, is now senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Clearwire.

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Source: Clearwire.