Clearwire plans to lift up US$5 billion from spectrum sale
Clearwire is planning to sell its abundant supply of spectrum in a bid to raise up to US$5 billion to fund network expansion next year.
According to reports, the U.S. WiMAX network operator’s spectrum sale is currently in its second round and has attracted interest from some of the country’s telecoms industry big guns. The bidders include AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA owner Deutsche Telekom, and Time Warner Cable, as well as Sprint Nextel, which holds a majority stake in Clearwire.
As per the report, the bidding is already in its second round and is being managed by Deutsche Bank. Clearwire is believed to be selling up to 40MHz of spectrum per market, less than half of its total capacity of over 100MHz in most areas.
Clearwire is known to have held talks with T-Mobile USA about a possible investment in the company, or the sale of spectrum.
According to reports, citing UBS analyst John Hodulik, Clearwire needs to raise around US$2 billion by Q4 in order to fund the expansion of its network in early 2011.
MetroPCS beats Verizon and AT&T in 4G LTE offering
4G services has recently hit Las Vegas and within days a small prepaid wireless provider MetroPCS, has flattened Verizon Wireless and AT&T to offer a 4G alternative to Sprint and Clearwire’s WiMAX.
MetroPCS is offering its LTE service plans for US$55 and US$60, depending on features. The carrier is also offering a 4G handset, the Samsung Craft, for US$300 after a US$50 rebate.
MetroPCS aims to organize LTE in three other cities in the U.S. by the end of this year, and its remaining markets in 2011. AT&T had originally targeted an initial launch of its own LTE network at 2010, but just announced a decision to push back deployment until mid-2011, putting it behind competitor Verizon in 4G deployment plans.
Offering daily and weekly prepaid service plans as options might make sense for MetroPCS, too, especially in cities such as Las Vegas which attract huge numbers of vacationers, convention-goers, and other short-term visitors.
Sprint Rules Out Quick Clearwire Buyout
The third largest US mobile network operator, Sprint Nextel, is not concerned in trading out its partners in Clearwire, the US WiMax network operator, at this stage, but may consider such a transaction later.
According to Robert Brust, Sprint Nextel’s chief financial officer, a Clearwire buyout would be too expensive at present. In response to analysts’ speculation he alleged that Sprint Nextel might seek full ownership of Clearwire in order to increase its control of operational issues such as plans to expand into new markets and adopt other 4G technologies.
Sprint Nextel presently holds about 55% of Clearwire with the rest of Clearwire’s equity spread between a group of cable companies including Comcast and Time Warner, and technology partners including Intel and Google.
Clearwire is structuring a nationwide network based on WiMax.
Though, Sprint Nextel and Clearwire have specified that they may clinch a competitor 4G technology which has been widely adopted by mobile network operators in the US and overseas. This created a speculation that Sprint Nextel might want to reposition WiMax as a wireless alternative to fixed line broadband and has given a rise to the speculation that Sprint Nextel might look to buy its Clearwire partners.
While responding to the questions in a webcast of an investor conference, Mr Brust rejected the idea of an acquisition, at least in the near term, while acknowledging that it would help Sprint to have full control.
According to Brust, the path that’s almost certainly expected is that we’ll continue to instill some equity over the coming years and maybe some way down the road to take control of it.An imminent move on that would just be very expensive.
Verizon announces prepaid mobile data offerings
Verizon Wireless has announced its prepaid mobile data plans for most of the Smart-phones and some feature phones it sells. Before this it was possible to buy prepaid voice plans but not data plans.
Prepaid accounts for close to two-thirds of all new connections amongst all major US carriers. Given this situation, all carriers are drawing their attention to prepaid data plans. The fledgling economy is forcing telcos to enrich their pre-paid offerings.
Earlier, ClearWire, a 4G service provider majority owned by Sprint-Nextel announced a flat-price prepaid mobile data brand for its Wimax network called Rover. Virgin Mobile also announced a $40 contract-free data plan last month. AT&T customers can also get pre-paid data plans, just like their contract counterparts.
Sprint ditches Google Nexus phone (USA)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Google suffered a blow to its ambitions to sell its own smartphone after Sprint Nextel Corp announced that it is backing away from making Google Inc.’s Nexus One handset available on its network. Sprint marks second U.S. carrier to drop its commitment to sell the device manufactured by this Internet giant.
Currently, T-Mobile is the only US carrier to offer a wireless plan with the device. And those who want the device to run on AT&T will have to pay the full $529 price tag. Google’s plan shake up the existing wireless phone model by selling phones and service plans directly through its website and avoid the traditional wireless retailers has got another kick with Sprint’s decision.
Android devices have been hailed as superior alternatives by Sprint and Verizon Wireless, which is jointly owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC. Sprint is pushing upcoming Evo, the first U.S. device attuned with Sprint and Clearwire Corp.’s fourth-generation WiMax network.
Sprint’s WiMax mobile unveiled
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The first WiMax phone of US mobile operator Sprint will be unveiled by the company at the CTIA Wireless trade show. The HTC developed device has been named as Supersonic.
The WiMax data service of Sprint has been sold by the operator from Clearwire bundled with its 3G mobile services in select markets around the US. A range of data modems has already been offered by the operator and it is also expected to release the first WiMax phone by this summer.
WiMax phone is supplied to Russian operator Yota by HTC since late 2008.
Verizon to launch 4G phones by mid- 2011 (USA)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Verizon customers waiting for its 4G handset are not required to hold out the purchase of its 4G phone as the company is not likely to have its very first 4G handset until mid-2011.
According to Anthony Melone, Verizon’s CTO, the carrier could have a 4G phone three to six months after it launches the service and it has committed itself to an aggressive LTE roll-out, which will launch in some markets by the end of the year.
Verizon is likely to be defeated by Clearwire which is building another 4G network based on WiMax technology and as claimed that it could support a phone as early as mid-2010.
Both of these networks don’t have the traditional voice-calling capabilities and will first be used for connecting laptops and other data devices.
Sprint suffers a net loss of USD2.44 billion in 2009
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A net loss of USD2.44 billion for the twelve months ended December 31, 2009 has been posted by Sprint Nextel, which is a 13% year-on-year improvement. A net loss of USD2.79 billion has also been suffered by the company and the revenues continued to fall, down 9% from USD35.64 billion in 2008 to USD32.26 billion a year later.
Operating income before interest, depreciation and amortization went down from USD7.66 billion to USD6.41 billion. The company also lost a total of 1.13 million wireless subscribers in 2009.
According to CEO Dan Hesse, Sprint’s performance built notable momentum during the second half of 2009 and the firm continues to closely manage costs, and in 2009 it generated the highest annual free cash flow since the merger.
The fourth quarter completion of the Virgin Mobile USA and iPCS acquisitions, as well as additional large investment in Clearwire, are hailed important for the future of the company.
4G prices again reduced by Sprint
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Prices for the mobile 4G service have been reduced by Sprint again. CDMA/WiMax mobile service is put at $59.99. Reduction in the prices also cuts into the revenue benefit of that early entry advantage.
The 4G service of the Sprint is seen through Clearwire Corp. This gives it a competitive advantage over larger rivals Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. However, none of them have rolled out a fourth-generation service.
US Mobile Market consolidation not necessary- Deutsche Telekom CFO
Deutsche Telekom CFO, Timotheus Hoettges told Bloomberg News that he sees no need for further consolidation of the U.S. mobile-phone market.
He mentioned that there are four national players in the U.S. market for 300 million households, whereas in Europe, there are 350 million households with close to 70 operators.
Deutsche Telekom’s current focus in the U.S. is on expanding its 3G network. It is investing $3.5 billion euros in the network in 2009. He said that the mobile data market in the US is booming and they must participate in that now.
On the Issue of 4G networks, there is a possibility that T-mobile could provide funding in exchange for access to ClearWire’s 4G network. Verizon and AT&T are already buliding independent 4G networks.
