Sprint may buy $200 million Clearwire debt

Hot off the news that Clearwire is losing a chairman, we’re hearing that Sprint may pour in another $200 million to assume the WiMax company’s debt.
According to Forbes, the move will allow Sprint to maintain its 50% stake in the company. If you don’t know, Clearwire provides the WiMax infrastructure that powers the Sprint 4G network for devices like the EVO and the Epic.
I guess this is a much-needed infusion of cash for Clearwire but the future isn’t looking that bright. The company had to lay off 15% of its staff recently and it has even considered selling spectrum to raise some more cash.
Clearwire is still pretty adamant about sticking with WiMax but it is staying flexible in order to switch to Long-Term Evolution if it needs to. The company has previously said that the similarities in the technology would enable it to switch to LTE with a software upgrade of sorts and it has piloted some LTE programs which hit 90 Mbps download speeds.
Sprint has also insisted that WiMax is its 4G strategy, period. It will likely unveil the HTC Shift handset next week at CES to further boost its next-generation mobile data portfolio.
As for the competitors, Verizon and AT&T will rely on LTE for its next-generation mobile data network. Verizon just launched its service in December and AT&T is expected to roll out its network in the middle of 2011.
T-Mobile is relying on its HSPA+ network for its 4G strategy and this already delivers about 21 Mbps download speeds to users in over 100 markets. The nation’s fourth-largest U.S. carrier is expected to announce its plans for HSPA+42 at CES and this could potentially double the download speeds of its mobile data network.
While the technologies may differ, it’s clear that 2011 will be the year of 4G and that’s a great thing for consumers.
[Via Forbes]