Clearwire has announced during its first quarter results conference call that its previous agreement with intel requiring the ISP to remain with WiMax until November 28th of 2011 has been amended to allow either party to exit the arrangement with just 30 days notice, effective immediately.
With this change in place, it would allow either Clearwire or intel to transition from WiMax support to LTE with no legal issues or penalties, although this confirmation does come soon after this morning’s confirmation of further market expansion for Clear and Sprint 4G service this summer.
Clearwire has also reported better than expected financial results, with generous gross profit margins of 47% in its three oldest markets, an 18 month timeframe from launch to profitability in a new market, 971,000 total subscribers with 283,000 added in the first quarter alone and now covers 50 million people.
Clearwire has also announced future smart devices from HTC and Samsung (not counting the underpromoted and discontinued Mondi) by the end of the year.
The HTC device is probablyt he Evo, but what is the Samsung device? that could be interesting.
Nice to see them getting ready to switch to LTE also. Maybe Sprint will switch to a SIM card in the future.
Clearwire has indicated that the HTC device in question is not EVO 4G. However, Sprint has told us that Clearwire could sell the EVO 4G down the road.
I suspect Microsoft is looking to dive head first into 4G with a Windows Phone 7 device for Clear. Much like the Mondi was the first WIMAX smart device (alongside the N810), Microsoft appears to be willing to tweak WP7 to support WiMAX from day one.
I also suspect Clearwire won’t get the EVO 4G until Sprint has saturated the device, giving Sprint time to lock down as many new adds and switchers from other carriers, before rolling out EVO 4G on Clear service.
As to the switch to LTE, keep in mind it isn’t a sure thing. Clear and Sprint have asked the LTE forum to make changes needed to support Sprint’s carrier signals, and AT&T and Verizon may move to block that.
It’s also possible Google will offer to remove the risk factor and push to go all-in with a wireless technology that gives the search giant more freedom to offer free wireless broadband tiers. This move could be to clear the way to give Google a chance to be more bullish with WiMAX, especially as Intel continues on its platform-agnostic wireless stance.
[…] & Intel change agreement terms Clearwire Changes Agreement Terms with Intel, Opens Door for Transition to LTE | PhoneNews.com Written by Humberto Saabedra on May 5, 2010 Clearwire has announced during its first quarter […]
[…] Intel change agreement terms Clear & Intel change agreement terms Clearwire Changes Agreement Terms with Intel, Opens Door for Transition to LTE | PhoneNews.com Written by Humberto Saabedra on May 5, 2010 Clearwire has announced during its first quarter […]