BOSTON—Closely held Clearwire Corp. offered a closer look into its pre-WiMAX efforts in conjunction with the WiMAX World trade show with news that the carrier currently commands 162,000 customers and has plans to cover a total of 9 million potential customers with its services by the end of the year.
Benjamin Wolff, Clearwire’s co-chief executive officer, said the carrier recently launched its services in Honolulu, and that it plans to launch service in Seattle, Raleigh, N.C., and Chico, Calif., by end of year.
More notably, Wolff said Clearwire controls between 12 and 198 MHz of spectrum in markets covering 210 million POPs across the country. He also said Clearwire recently launched a mobile WiMAX trial in Oregon—news that could indicate a change in Clearwire’s strategy. The carrier currently offers fixed wireless Internet access—an alternative to DSL and cable connections—but mobile WiMAX technology could put Clearwire in direct competition with the nation’s cellular carriers.
Clearwire previously disclosed its mobile WiMAX plans in its initial public offering filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Clearwire subsequently pulled its IPO application after netting more than $1 billion in private funding.
