Rumors are circulating once again that Sprint Nextel will spin off its Xohm WiMAX broadband unit and form a joint venture with Clearwire. The Street.com is reporting that the deal between the two firms will include a $2 billion investment from Intel Capital.

If this rumored deal actually goes through, it will give a much-needed vote of confidence to WiMAX. Many companies at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona said much of WiMAX's future was resting on Sprint's Xohm business. Without Xohm, mobile WiMAX may not be anything other than a niche play. 

Find out the latest on Xohm at the FierceWireless co-located event "4G and Beyond" on April 2 at CTIA Wireless 2008. Barry West, CTO of Sprint and head of the Xohm unit will be a keynote speaker and will provide a status update on Xohm. Here's a link [1] to the agenda.

For more on Sprint and Clearwire:
- See this Street.com report [2]

Related stories:
FierceWireless 2008 predictions "Sprint and Clearwire will merge their WiMAX networks." Story [3]
Analyst: Sprint and Clearwire to reunite? Story [4]