AT&T is selling Clearwire a slice of 2.5 GHz spectrum for about $300 million. The spectrum covers markets in the southeast of the U.S. and used to belong to BellSouth. The spectrum solidifies Clearwire's position as the second largest holder of 2.5GHz spectrum after Sprint Nextel. Clearwire is planning on launching a WiMAX network in the U.S. and currently claims 200,000 subscribers on its high-speed wireless network. The company has raised close to $1 billion in financing from investors such as Motorola and Intel, and plans to raise more than $480 million through an IPO soon.
AT&T had to sell the spectrum as a condition of its merger with BellSouth. Jupiter Research reported that Clearwire was very supportive of that term during the merger regulation talks. Another interesting point: Clearwire's CEO Craig McCaw sold a previous wireless unit, McCaw Cellular to AT&T Wireless several years ago.
For more on the Clearwire spectrum deal with AT&T:
- check out this article from GigaOM