Intel Investing $2B in Sprint/Clearwire

• Posted: Monday, February 18, 2008
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• Author: pradhana
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• Filed under: WiMAX

Rumors are circulating once again that Sprint Nextel will spin off its Xohm WiMAX broadband unit and form a joint venture with Clearwire. The Street.com is reporting that the deal between the two firms will include a $2 billion investment from Intel Capital.

If this rumored deal actually goes through, it will give a much-needed vote of confidence to WiMAX. Many companies at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona said much of WiMAX's future was resting on Sprint's Xohm business. Without Xohm, mobile WiMAX may not be anything other than a niche play.

Find out the latest on Xohm at the FierceWireless co-located event "4G and Beyond" on April 2 at CTIA Wireless 2008. Barry West, CTO of Sprint and head of the Xohm unit will be a keynote speaker and will provide a status update on Xohm. Here's a link to the agenda.

The two companies revived deal talks, according to press reports, after Sprint tore up a prior agreement in November. That earlier plan had called for Sprint to chip in $2.75 billion toward the expansion of WiMax networks to 19 cities by the end of this year, but the company pulled out of that pact in an effort to undo the work of former CEO Gary Forsee

Among the top priorities for new CEO Dan Hesse has been deciding the fate of Sprint's costly WiMax effort. Sprint, under Forsee, essentially pinned the company's future on the promising mobile wireless broadband technology.

But the $5 billion price tag estimated for the company to build a WiMax network on its own was too much for Sprint as it grapples with the ramifications of its failed merger with Nextel. [FierceWireless/Street.com]

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