WASHINGTON-Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp. have sought Federal Communications Commission approval of a deal involving the swap of hundreds of broadband radio service channels in the 2.5 GHz band.
In documents filed with the FCC and made public last week, the two companies said they agreed Oct. 24 to seek federal regulatory consent for the transaction. Clearwire would transfer to Sprint Nextel nine licenses comprising more than a dozen BRS channels in Buffalo, N.Y.; Baton Rouge, La.; Mobile, Ala.; Stockton, Calif.; and Pittsfield, Mass. In return, Sprint Nextel would receive from Clearwire more than 400 BRS channels in 61 licenses in primarily small markets.
“This transaction will better align Clearwire’s and Sprint Nextel’s spectrum resources to support their business initiatives to provide next-generation wireless broadband services and applications using advanced technologies,” the two companies told the FCC in a joint public-interest statement. “As a result of the transaction, the commission’s goal of more rapid deployment of broadband services throughout the nation, as well as the goal of greater spectrum efficiency in spectrum use, would be more readily realized.”
The firms said the deal also would help Sprint Nextel meet the merger condition of offering 2.5 GHz service to a population of at least 15 million Americans-including areas within a minimum of nine of the nation’s most populous basic trading areas-within four years.
“For the second year in a row, Sprint and Clearwire have exchanged 2.5 GHz spectrum presents during the holiday season,” said Jim Wiesenberg, a wireless spectrum advisor and investor with WW Associates. “Last year, they did a significant lease transfer deal that allowed Clearwire to launch in many of its current operating broadband wireless markets. This holiday deal involves Sprint Nextel receiving nine mid-market licenses with its mainly still-in-distant-future top 100 market focus. Assuming no-cash consideration, as both concerns are extremely spectrum rich in the 2.5 GHz band, Clearwire would gain 400-plus channels in 61 mostly small markets-meaning it has further free range to ride throughout rural America. Despite the warm feelings one may surmise from the present exchange, Clearwire and Sprint appear to be competing with each other and some more recently interested 2.5 GHz parties for the surprisingly still-fertile large markets rights territory.”
Prior to acquiring Nextel Communications Inc. in August, Sprint Corp. announced a pact with Samsung Telecommunications America L.L.P. to test network equipment based on the 802.16e WiMAX standard using Sprint’s 2.5 GHz wireless assets. The two firms said the agreement would involve testing prototype terminals and core network equipment intended to support interactive multimedia services. The collaboration is expected to involve lab trials at company facilities and field trials with customers, as well as interoperability testing with Sprint’s “ecosystem” partners to verify the specifications of 802.16e technology.
Samsung said at the time it wanted to be the first company to give a trial performance of 802.16e-based services by the end of this year and commercially launch a WiBro network with a wireless carrier early next year in Korea. WiBro will have mobility built into its initial specification. Meantime, the WiMAX standard is being worked out as a fixed solution first-with mobility added later.
Sprint announced a similar deal earlier this year with Motorola Inc. to conduct joint wireless broadband technology testing and equipment trials using Motorola’s 802.16e platform and the carrier’s 2.5 GHz spectrum. Much like the Samsung accord, the Motorola trial includes lab testing of base-station equipment, smart-antenna technology and multimedia handsets, as well as field trials in certain locations.
Sprint previously signed a related agreement with Intel Corp. to develop WiMAX chipsets, devices, equipment and infrastructure. In addition, Sprint also joined the WiMAX Forum earlier this year.
Before being acquired by Sprint, Nextel said in June it planned to launch a network trial using IPWireless Inc.’s UMTS TD-CDMA technology during the third quarter in the Washington, D.C., area using its 2.5 GHz spectrum. The carrier said at the time that the trial would test a range of subscriber services, including high-speed wireless access for laptops, desktops and personal digital assistants and backhaul for enterprise campuses. Nextel also has tested Flarion Technologies Inc.’s Flash-OFDM technology. Flarion has since been acquired by Qualcomm Inc.
Clearwire, headed by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw uses a proprietary technology referred to as pre-WiMAX. It works much like WiMAX does, although it is not certified by the WiMAX Forum.
McCaw, however, has indicated his firm would embrace WiMAX standards as they become available and announced a major chip deal with Intel last year.
