Clearwire has admitted for some time, although subtly, that they are under capitalized to complete a true nationwide build out of their 4G WiMAX network. There’s never been a question that they’ll eventually need more money. The questions are from whom, and when? According to the Wall Street Journal, those questions have been answered.
The WSJ reports, the money, $1.5 billion of it, will be coming from Sprint, and most of Clearwire’s original investors, including Comcast and Time Warner Cable. According to the report, Sprint will pony up $1 billion. These same original investors pumped $3.2 billion into Clearwire back in 2008. So far Clearwire has launched their CLEAR service in Portland, Baltimore, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Raleigh, and several smaller markets in Texas, among others. As of the end of June, Clearwire covered 23 million pops and aims to have 30 million covered by the end of the year and 100 million covered by the end of 2010.
Will an additional $1.5 billion be enough?
