Sprint In Alleged Talks To Acquire Clearwire

[I.B. Pimpin]

Sprint in alleged talks to acquire Clearwire, cablers huddle 'round for some LTE pie -- Engadget

"Tis the season for patent disputes and wireless industry takeovers, or so a recent glut of moves would indicate. Shedding a little light on Clearwire's recently announced allegiance to LTE, Bloomberg is reporting that the company's currently in talks to sell its business to Sprint, and perhaps secure the funding it so desperately needs for a network build out. According to several insider sources, the third place wireless carrier's considering a joint investment (amongst other options) with Comcast, Cablevision and Cox, that would give the cablers a bundled high-speed, wireless broadband competitive advantage, and Sprint an LTE boost in its battle against AT&T and Verizon's rival 4G networks. None of the players in this rumored takeover have yet to comment on the purported transaction, although the business gossip has had quite an uplifting effect on Clearwire's shares. While we can't speculate as to the veracity of the claim, we know one thing for sure -- that LTE network's not gonna build itself."

 

[ArmageddonX]

Maybe they'll finally put some WiMax in Phoenix Arizona...

 

[evolution3d]

I wish they would just properly build out WiMax.... and get started on it now.

 

[RiverOfIce]

I so want this to happen because the only thing sprint needs to do now is waste more money, telling people that it is saving money.

The reason they made clear was to create a 3rd company that all the investors could have control over. Now sprint is trying to buy out clear, with the same companies that own clear, so they control clear themselves.

They wasted billions in their build out the first time. There is zero confidence they would save anything this time around.

 

[OutofDate1980]

... They wasted billions in their build out the first time. There is zero confidence they would save anything this time around.

Maybe a smart move for Sprint to have a LTE network, from my understanding of your posting LTE can be used to control content access, i.e. charge extra for Google maps, etc.

 

[RiverOfIce]

Maybe a smart move for Sprint to have a LTE network, from my understanding of your posting LTE can be used to control content access, i.e. charge extra for Google maps, etc.

But the cost of the licenses would suck any profit out of that system. LTE is licensed by att and verizon. If you want to use lte you have to get a license from them, and that is not cheap.

Let us put it this way. To license a lte phone, it cost about 10% the cost of the phone, per phone. Which means a 599 dollar device, the licensing fees are about 60 dollars, just for the licensing fees. 10% for partners that where always with lte. Anyone new to the game, the licensing fees are very high.

If sprint wanted to get with lte, it should have gone with them from the start. Jumping ship now is just dumb and will get worst. It is not like they can use verizons lte network.

 

[OutofDate1980]

... If sprint wanted to get with lte, it should have gone with them from the start. Jumping ship now is just dumb and will get worst. It is not like they can use verizons lte network.

I wonder if this Intel capacity analysis is still valid as this was written prior to WiMax-2 & LTE-A. http://www.unleadedonline.net/wimax/WWAN_Capacity_Analysis_White_Paper.pdf

If so, this may also lead credence that S should keep its emphasis on WiMax to maintain comparative advantage of its spectrum capacity.

 

[I.B. Pimpin]

LTE is licensed by att and verizon. If you want to use lte you have to get a license from them, and that is not cheap.

That is incorrect. Sprint/LightSquared/Clearwire's LTE network has nothing to do with Verizon or AT&T. It won't even be on the same spectrum. Does Sprint pay Verizon CDMA licensing fees or vice versa? No they don't. Metro PCS, Verizon, US Cellular, AT&T, Sprint, Rogers, Clearwire and many other companies around the world will each set up their own LTE networks. Verizon and AT&T didn't invent LTE.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution

 

[OutofDate1980]

... Verizon and AT&T didn't invent LTE. ... /QUOTE]

This may help on who owns the patents on LTE.

"Qualcomm, Nokia and Ericsson dominate 3G technology, but the field is deeper in LTE, Informa said. The company estimated Interdigital owns 21 percent of the global LTE patent portfolio and Qualcomm holds 19 percent. Huawei, China's biggest telecommunications vendor, is in third place with 9 percent, followed by Samsung with 8 percent and Nokia, LG and Ericsson each having 7 percent, Informa said."

LTE Patent Pools Taking Shape | PCWorld