Clearwire continues to attract wholesale interest as Earthlink announced plans to begin offering wireless “Internet-at-Home” service using the carrier’s “4G” network. The service follows Earthlink’s recently unveiled “Internet-on-the Go” plans launched in June that also runs across Clearwire’s network.
For the new offering, Earthlink said it will provide two packages priced at $30 per month that includes network speeds up to 3 megabits per second and up to 5 gigabytes of data transmission per month, or $50 per month for up to 6 Mbps in network speeds and 10 GB of data transmission per month. The service will initially be offered in 80 markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Seattle, Miami and Washington, D.C.
Clearwire’s current “4G” service runs across its legacy WiMAX-based network that covers approximately 130 million potential customers. Construction on that network has ceased as the carrier looks to focus future “4G” expansion using the LTE standard. Sprint recently acquired full control of Clearwire for $5 billion, looking to add Clearwire’s deep portfolio of 2.5 GHz spectrum assets to densify its own LTE network plans. Prior to the Sprint acquisition, Clearwire’s wholesale operations were bleeding customers, mostly linked to Sprint discontinuing the sale of WiMAX-enabled devices that ran across Clearwire’s network.
Earthlink had previously offered MVNO-based services through its Helio division that launched in 2006 as a joint venture with SK Telecom. That offering ran across Sprint’s CDMA network, before being acquired by fellow MVNO Virgin Mobile USA in 2008.
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