Clearwire signs wholesale agreement with Locus

The wholesale world of mobile broadband services continues to glean results as Clearwire Corp. (CLWR) today said it has signed prepaid wireless mobile virtual network operator Locus Telecommunications Inc. The deal calls for Locus to add prepaid 4G services using Clearwire’s WiMAX network to its offering.
Locus, which claims more than 300,000 prepaid wireless customers for its H2O Wireless branded service, said it expects to begin offering the mobile broadband service later this year. Clearwire’s WiMAX network currently covers approximately 120 million potential customers across 71 markets.
Locus currently offers mobile broadband services running on AT&T Mobility’s HSPA-based 3G network with rates up to $50 per month for 1 gigabyte of data transmission, as well as voice and messaging services running across both a GSM network from AT&T Mobility and a CDMA network from Verizon Wireless.
Clearwire has started to gain serious momentum behind its wholesale offering with virtually all of its net customer additions during the fourth quarter of last year from those partners. Customers signed up through its wholesale partners generally provide for much lower average revenue per user than direct customers additions, but the acquisition costs are virtually zero.
Best Buy Co. Inc. recently began offering commercial mobile broadband service running on Clearwire’s WiMAX network with unlimited rate plans priced at $45 per month. Other wholesale partners include majority owner Sprint Nextel Corp. and cable providers Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable.
The wholesale space is also gaining new competitors as LightSquared is moving forward with its planned LTE-based satellite/terrestrial service that has recently gained a wholesale partner in Leap Wireless International Inc.