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June 21, 2010

Clearwire said it wants to offer laptops with embedded modems at Best Buy physical stores and online at bestbuy.com to provide its users with dependable Wi-Max service in the U.S.

The new laptops, which include CPUs from Intel also feature the Dell Inspiron Model 14, Dell Inspiron Model 15, Dell Mini 10 and Toshiba Satellite M-645 notebook.

Availability will vary by city and state. Users who sign up for a two-year minimum service agreement are also eligible for a $100 discount on selected Best Buy computers.

While Clearwire has said previously that it plans to offer a WiMAX-enabled handset sometime later in 2010, the wireless carrier is also marketing its Wi-Max service as an alternative to DSL services and as such, the embedded notebooks are part of its strategy.

And Intel wants to repeat its success in Wi-Fi chips in the WiMAX space, which helps explain its excitement in Clearwire's newly proposed deal.

Some wireless industry analysts view this as a win-win for all companies involved in the deal.

Mike Sievert, chief commercial officer at Clearwire says "Overall, embedding 4G technology into laptops makes it easy for wireless users to experience Clearwire's very rapid mobile Internet service and on the latest technology. The discounted summer and holiday pricing on Clearwire-ready laptops from Intel and available through Best Buy is yet another way Clearwire is working to meet the rapidly growing demand for true mobile broadband services in the United States."

On June 2nd, Clearwire said it has launched its WiMAX service in Kansas City and Washington, D.C., and has expanded the service in Baltimore as well.

The mobile operator is offering an online-only mobile Web promotion with plans starting at $15 a month for two months after a $50 service credit in all 3 markets.

In central Washington, Clearwire said it will cover about one million wireless users, including some communities in Chevy Chase and Silver Spring, Md., Alexandria and Falls Church, Va., as well as College Park, Md.

Jeff Fugate of Clearwire has been named general manager for the area.

The WiMAX service provider has also launched its service in Sprint Nextel's headquarters of Kansas City, Kan., and neighboring Missouri, where its service covers over 1.1 million users.

The company named John O'Donnellas as general manager for the region.

While all of this is happening, and amid some speculation that Clearwire will shift to LTE technology eventually, research company WiseHarbor just released a report that says WiMAX sales will peak by 2015, as the introduction of TD-LTE service will spur the demise of WiMAX technology.

"Whereas WiMAX has made significant commercial progress by occupying the unpaired spectrum that tends to be much cheaper than the paired spectrum used for CDMA-based technologies including EV-DO and HSPA, TD-LTE will eclipse WiMAX by prevailing in the use of unpaired spectrum as well as the paired spectrum already employed commercially by LTE," the report says.

In Baltimore, Clearwire said it expanded its service to now cover about 1.7 million wireless users. The coverage area now goes as far north as Bel Air, as far south as Annapolis and west to Owings Mills and east to Dundalk and Essex, Md.

Clearwire's Dean Young has been named general manager for that market.

Clearwire CEO Bill Morrow said in its first-quarter operating results that it is on track to cover 120 million potential customers by the end of 2010.

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Source: Clearwire Corp.