Report: Huawei competing for major Clearwire contract

Huawei is a finalist for a major WiMAX infrastructure contract with Clearwire, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The report, citing an unnamed person familiar with the matter, said that Huawei is competing for the contract along with Motorola, Nokia Siemens Networks and Samsung Electronics. Clearwire is likely to choose more than one vendor for its network and it's unknown how much the potential contract is worth. Both Clearwire and Huawei declined to comment.

The Chinese telecom equipment vendor has won a contract to supply gear for a cellular phone service that cable provider Cox Communications is preparing to launch later this year. The Clearwire contract would be a major coup for Huawei, which has been looking to establish a stronger presence in the North American market. Huawei has been bullish on its prospects for 2009, and has said it expects to close infrastructure deals worth up to $30 billion during the year.   

Clearwire has said it will launch its Clear-branded mobile WiMAX service in at least eight markets in 2009. By the end of 2010, Clearwire expects to have a network that covers 120 million POPs, with service in Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

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