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Clearwire Day 1: Stock Jocks Pretend To Know What WiMax Is

Clearwire's IPO started hot and netted the company nearly $600 million today, then the value dropped slightly as most stock jocks realized they had no idea WiMax came in mobile and fixed variants. Om Malik notes that the happy man in all of this is going to be Craig McCaw. In conjunction with Intel's PR department, McCaw of course is going to work the public into a lather over the possibilities of a major third player in the broadband wars, then sell his WiMax operations to an incumbent (a la McCaw Cellular) long before it becomes a serious threat to their competitive interests.

Malik reminds us that half of the IPO money is already going to AT&T for the spectrum they were forced to shed as a merger condition. Clearwire's ownership of spectrum is about the only reason they have any worth, he notes, but solid profit is a long time coming with a mobile WiMax network still to build. He argues Clearwire investment is a risky affair and we'd tend to agree. We'll add that Clearwire's fixed footprint is fairly meager for a supposed disruptive industry player, and our user reviews aren't exactly stellar, either.

As of the first of the year, Clearwire had 184,000 fixed WiMax customers and an unbuilt mobile WiMax network. That's compared to cable and DSL's 53 million subscribers, making talk of "third pipe" competition just a tad premature. If the Rupert Murdoch DirecTV speculation had panned out, we might be more excited, but half a decade of hype has burned out our ability to produce dopamine when it comes to WiMax's potential.

Despite the ceaseless giggly optimism originating from tech backers Motorola and Intel, recent studies proclaim that WiMax as a whole will remain niche for a while as 3G incumbent EVDO and HSDPA solutions gobble up the majority of customer interest. The other major player to watch on the mobile WiMax front is of course Sprint, who says they'll start selling 2-4Mbps $55 Mobile WiMax access sometime in early 2008 in both DC and Chicago.
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mobbo
join:2005-04-13
Denton, TX

mobbo

Member

Yay

Congrats. You have $600 million... now DO SOMETHING WITH IT!
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Yay

Yah! They can come to Ohio.
rahvin112
join:2002-05-24
Sandy, UT

rahvin112

Member

??

On one hand you say they have no future and the other you say Sprint has a more viable future in WiMax. What you fail to mention is that Sprint plans to use Clearwire's network, the agreement should also allows clearwire to use sprints towers nationwide for broadcast points, and with the new at&t spectrum they have 2.5ghz spectrum nearly nationwide.

So if Sprint is going to be the big player in Wimax, and they are using Clearwire's network, doesn't that mean Clearwire will be successful?

BillRoland
Premium Member
join:2001-01-21
Ocala, FL

BillRoland

Premium Member

There's got to be something to it

Craig McCaw has a proven history of success, if he's involved I highly doubt this is a money losing venture.

juicelee
Premium Member
join:2000-12-04
Hacienda Heights, CA

1 edit

juicelee

Premium Member

Re: There's got to be something to it

Teledesic and XO didn't do so well, so I wouldn't say his involvement is a guarantee of success. However, there aren't many players in the wimax market right now, so the potential growth is there (unlike the situation with Vonage's IPO).

intrstdobserver
@clearwire-dns.net

intrstdobserver to BillRoland

Anon

to BillRoland
Mr. McCaw has been a mastermind at setting up cell phone businesses successfully. Once established he sells the business to the highest bidder. However, he also has had some companies that went belly up shortly after... His Track record although very impressive has come up short at times.

The first 2 years of Clearwire has a net loss of over 400 million dollars with no end in site. This company based on personal experience will never be a viable contender in the broadband market. My personal opinion is that Clearwire will be sold within the next 18-24 months.

Lastly the way to keep a customer happy is to provide superior customer service. Clearwire has and continues to lead the pack with extremely POOR customer service from the 888-clearwi group to the local market service and support.

Lil Jon
Premium Member
join:2006-06-26
Cincinnati, OH

Lil Jon to BillRoland

Premium Member

to BillRoland
said by BillRoland:

Craig McCaw has a proven history of success, if he's involved I highly doubt this is a money losing venture.
Yup. I can only see this growing.

Matt3
All noise, no signal.
Premium Member
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC

Matt3

Premium Member

Hrmm....

AT&T sells spectrum to Clearwire as a condition of the merger, then turns around buys them outright, getting the network and the spectrum.

Nice.

PolarBear03
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium Member
join:2005-01-03

PolarBear03

Premium Member

Customer Service

With their record of "excellent" customer service, I won't give these bastards a dime for their service or their stock.

intrstdobserver
@clearwire-dns.net

intrstdobserver

Anon

Re: Customer Service

I agree 100% with you! Only the few that have had Clearwire for more than 6 months can attest to the extreme lack of care that their customer service has. They have you on a contract while pulling credit for internet.

I would warn all with the old adage, "Buyer Beware." Check into your local Better Business Bureaus(BBB'S) to find out more on this company if your considering their product.