Clearwire is raising a further US$920 million in financing via a notes offering, bumping up its total financing in recent weeks to almost US$2.3 billion.
It follows a November 10 announcement by the company that it had raised $1.56 billion funding from existing investors including Sprint Nextel, which contributed $1.176 billion, notes Reuters
Clearwire previously said they need US$2 billion to US$2.3 billion in new financing in order to go through with its plan to expand its WiMAX network to cover a population of 120 million people by the end of 2010. Clearwire’s investors include its majority shareholder, Sprint Nextel, plus Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Intel, Eagle River, Bright House Networks and Google.
Clear is now available in 11 Texas cities, covering over 4,700 square miles and 8.5 million people including Dallas/Ft. Worth (1,300 sq mi and 3.6m people), San Antonio (711 square miles and 1.4 million people), and Austin, (420 square miles, 1 million people).
C/Net’s Marguerite Reardon points out that Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest cell phone provider, is building its own 4G wireless network while T-Mobile and AT&T are upgrading their HSDPA networks.
The advantage these souped-up 3G networks have over Clearwire is scale. They can leverage a deep device and equipment ecosystem, helping reduce the overall cost of deploying networks and offering services. By contrast, WiMax is a niche technology.
On the other hand, a Google Phone on Comcast or Sprint might could allow disruptive pricing — although moderated by their own cable modem and cellular service.
In addition, LTE and HSDPA have data caps. That means cellular companies can’t effectively target home DSL or cable modem users. WiMAX can double dip. That expands their potential market to home users.
WiMAX 2 (802.16M), promising 100Mbps mobile speed, is expected to arrive about the time LTE becomes broadly available (2012 or so). The ITU has received six submissions for IMT-Advanced, the ‘true 4G’ standard promising 100Mbps mobile. The ITU will select its IMT-Advanced technologies in October 2010.
Juniper predicts 50 million WiMAX subscribers globally by 2014 but LTE subscribers will exceed 100 million by 2014. ABI predicts more than 100 million LTE users by 2014, while Maravedis predicts 75 million BWA/WiMAX subscribers by 2014. GSMA predicts 87M LTE Subs by 2014 but that HSPA 3G networks will provide a big cushion to fall back on. Ovum believes HSPA will “undoubtedly” be the dominant technology in emerging markets for the next five years, accounting for two thirds of next-generation access connections in 2014.
By 2014 Ovum predicts Smartphones will account for 29 percent of the market with some 400 million subscribers. Android is predicted to take second place, hitting 72 million units by 2014 with 18 percent smartphone share after Nokia’s 43 percent share in 2014.
HSPA phones are now beginning to cross the divide between postpaid and prepaid, where there are no subsidies. More than 70% of the world’s 4 billion plus mobile users have prepaid subscriptions and pay the full retail price for a handset.
