Sprint Mulls Future of WiMAX Business

By Tim Conneally | Published November 2, 2007, 12:57 PM

Without an official CEO to succeed Gary Forsee, Sprint is weighing options regarding the rollout of its planned national WiMAX network.

The company has reportedly been in talks since July with a wireless start-up called Clearwire about working together to build a nationwide WiMAX network. No official agreements have yet been made, and given Sprint's current state of administrative flux, they will likely continue unresolved; at least until a new CEO is in place.

Since WiMAX is still quite a risky endeavor, Sprint will continue to weigh its options before deciding on a path that could prove to be tremendously costly. One of the more favorable options discussed entails spinning off Sprint's WiMAX unit and merging it with Clearwire, forming a new publicly traded company as a result.

Other options involve increasing funds for the project by attracting more investors, buying Clearwire outright, or continuing with the deal outlined in July.

The earlier deal would allow Sprint's customers to roam across Clearwire's mobile WiMAX networks, and give Clearwire customers access to Sprint's 3G network. Clearwire's network has coverage in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, Texas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, New York, Alaska and Hawaii.

Sprint's acting CEO Paul Saleh told the Wall Street Journal that the companies are seeking an arrangement that will simplify the experience for customers as much as possible.

Comments

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KRome if you used your credit card or a visa/master card debit card you can call them and they can then refund your money. you have 30 days to do this. if you did a check you can call your bank and see what they can do. if not call your state attorney generals office.

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I guess they are spotty. My one call was well handled. Maybe I should take up gambling? I switched to Sprint because they have the best coverage at my house, which is in a valley.

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im a sprint cellphone user. about 4 days ago i made a payment of $150.00. They debited my account twice...and didnt apply it to my account.

I confirmed it was deducted from my bank account. Sprint tells me they took the $ but dont know where it was applied. This was done on sprint.com.

They told me that they know they took my funds but dont know where they put them so they cant refund me...

wow....

after 4 days of phone calls to the phillipines and getting hung up on i have a ticket # with no promise of a refund.

I am so dissapointed with Sprint. I will 100% be leaving when my contract is up.

I work in customer service so i know the ins and outs and Sprint is the worst ive ever dealt with and sprint should be ashamed.

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Have them use the money for your ETF and go with ATT, Verizon, TMobile...

When they ask why, tell them their outsourced customer care is a joke...

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