Wondering about Clearwire’s IPO? MarketWatch says Clearwire’s IPO is on deck for Thursday.
Clearwire on Wednesday raised $600 million with an increased initial public offering that was priced at the top of a forecast range. The 24 million shares of Class A stock, which was increased from 20 million shares, sold for $25 per share compared with a $23 to $25 forecast, according to an underwriter.
Merrill Lynch & Co., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan led a group of 10 underwriters, which will have the option to buy another 3.6 million shares of Class A stock to cover over-allotments, according to an underwriter.
The company intends to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol “CLWR”
Clearwire plans to make WiMAX service available to about 16 million to 18 million people in 2007 in the U.S. and abroad. The number reaches to more than 45 million people in 2008. Its current customer base is about 205,000 — 184,400 U.S. subscribers and 21,800 international subscribers.
In the rest of 2007 and for all of 2008, Clearwire said it plans to launch in “certain small cities in Central or Eastern Washington, small and medium cities in Central and North Florida and South Alabama, various contiguous small cities in adjacent suburban and rural areas in Southeastern Pennsylvania and medium metropolitan areas in Central California, and medium to large metropolitan areas in Texas and in the Southeast.”
It also expects to expand its market in Belgium, and launch in Spain.
Sprint Nextel plans to spend $1.1 billion on WiMAX in 2007, including $300 million in startup operating costs and $800 million for capital expenditures, then some $2B in 2008. The company says the network will cover at least 100 million people by the end of 2008.
More than 200 operators globally have announced plans to deploy WiMAX, or have launched trials or commercial networks, according to TeleGeography Research. Most deployments and trials have been in Asia-Pacific (APAC) or in Western Europe, TeleGeography says. About two dozen WiMAX networks are in trial or deployed in the APAC, and there are about 15 in Western Europe.
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