Friday, October 7, 2011

Sprint To Phase Out Clearwire Support

In a major blow to Clearwire, Clearwire's major backer, Sprint Nextel said in a conference call Friday morning that it will stop shipping Clearwire compatible devices by the end of 2012, as it looks to shift its 4G customers to its own network. Sprint told investors that it is already building its own, 4G network, using LTE technology, which it says will have wider coverage than Clearwire's existing network. Clearwire has been building out its own, 4G network based on the competing WiMAX standard, which has not been widely adopted by other carriers. Sprint is also Clearwire's largest customer.