Following up, Sprint and Clearwire are undergoing arbitration in order to resolve a dispute regarding revenue paid to Clearwire for 4G access. At issue is the claim by Clearwire that it should be paid by Sprint for every customer with a WiMax/CDMA hybrid device regardless of coverage availability, while Sprint disagrees with Clearwire’s interpretation of the revenue sharing agreement and will only pay Clearwire the agreed revenue share (revealed to be $4.46 per customer) so long as the devices are activated in a WiMax coverage area.
The arbitration also revealed that Clearwire is claiming 810,000 customers under the current agreement as a source of revenue with the arbitration filing being filed late last month on the 29th. Should the arbitration fall to Sprint’s favor, the beleaguered ISP faces even less revenue earned while struggling to find the funding to continue operations with the ISP recently taking steps to conserve capital.
I am sure it would be fair for ClearWire to collect that fee, since sprint charges all hybrid users 10 for the phone regardless of the phone being in a 4G area or not. My example has been my 2 4G phones evo and my samsung where sprint charges me 10 each for premium data even when I don’t live or work in a 4G area. So Sprint pay up. Period!
Totally agree with above post. Fair is fair. Sprint pony up.
The real issue is how much will Clearwire be out for people who activate 4G phones in non-4G areas, and then travel to 4G areas and use the devices there.
Under Sprint’s interpretation, Clearwire gets nothing even for customers that use 4G daily… simply because their home address is in a suburb or area right outside of a 4G zip code.
Then again, Sprint shouldn’t have to pay Clearwire for 4G device customers that never use 4G service. If people want to pay a premium for a useless 4G device… Sprint has every right to price gouge their own customers.
If I had to play King Solomon here, I would say that Clearwire is entitled to monitor and bill the $4.46 if a 4G customer actually uses 4G service during a month. $4.46 is below the wholesale rate for a day pass on 4G service. One day of 4G usage in a month for a customer, and Sprint is ahead, as well as the customer, in terms of surplus. Clearwire at least recoups their network cost.
I suspect this is partly because Sprint wants to absorb Clearwire and continue to be a frenemy of Google and the cable companies. That’s the second time I’ve had to use the term “frenemy” this week. Hopefully it is the last…
True but also keep in mind that since iPhone was released ATT, they have been paying 20.00 per iphone user to Apple. That’s why they changed to 30.00 data plans couple years back. Sprint give them 5.00 and tell them to take a hike. Before long clearwire will be bought totally out anyway.
I understand about Apple and AT&T, however those two do not set a good example on proper corporate relations. Those two are some of the worse companies in history for both the consumer and their respective vendors. Those two gouch and nickle and dime their vendors and customers. Those two are far more Draconian than the Big M in Redmond. So, to comment on the above comment very poor ethical example.
I hope they do eat up Clearwire, hopefully some cell companies, US Cell is at the top of my list.
Agreed about Clearwire and US Cellular, Don Louie. I’d probably toss Cellular South and the wireless portion of ATNI into the mix as well. Of course, all of that would require more money than Sprint has to spend at the moment…
don louie stay defending sprint like someone slapped his mother
Really CJ? Your going to go there? You are a prime example of what is inherently wrong with American society and why I think we need a pandemic to remove people like you from the gene pool. Go back to Jersey,
Steven,
That is out of line…I have been using Sprint for over 10 years now. I have had my ups and downs with Sprint, but ever since Dan took over the company I like the direction it is taking. I will tell you one thing, Sprint is by far way better than AT&T and Verizon in every regard. I have 4 lines since 2002 and the not a complaint that would be worth mentioning, like I said I tried AT&T(Cingular) and Verizon and their practices are too draconian, I hate specially AT&T.
Steven, someone’s mother is not neccesary in this forum.
I believe this whole issue (the $10 fee Sprint charges consumers and the $4.46 Clearwire charges Sprint) is interrelated. I doubt Sprint would charge the $10 per user fee for users not in 4G coverage areas if Clearwire did not mandate that Sprint pay up for each capable device (regardless of where it is used). A better approach would be for Clearwire to require a fee for any device that accesses their network during any given month. Certainly the technology exists for that. Perhaps Sprint could approach it like they do text messages: charge a monthly fee if you don’t have text messaging as part of your plan, and a higher a la carte fee if you do not. This would make the whole situation more palatable for consumers.
[…] no secret why Sprint is doing this. On one hand, their profit sharing with Clearwire has clearly failed thus far. On the other hand, Verizon is days away from launching iPhone 4. An ETF-Out at this time would […]
[…] Along with the discussion, Sprint is expected to announce its plans for its own 4G transition from CDMA, with many expecting Sprint to announce its transition from CDMA EVDO to LTE, as the Network Vision initiative would allow for the deployment of either WiMax or LTE in the same basestation as well as CDMA and iDEN. Currently, Sprint is offering its own branded 4G access via wholesale agreement from Clearwire, with payment rates currently in dispute. […]
[…] financial turmoil as a result of a lack of capital for its operations. The company is also in a long-running dispute with Sprint regarding revenue sharing from WiMax network access by Sprint’s customers while it […]
[…] financial turmoil as a result of a lack of capital for its operations. The company is also in a long-running dispute with Sprint regarding revenue sharing from WiMax network access by Sprint’s customers while it […]