Clearwire to target new market segment

Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) said it will hold a press conference Aug. 30 to unveil plans to "serve a new customer segment," but the company did not provide any clues as to what its new strategy might be. The call will be hosted by Clearwire CMO Mike Sievert, and press and analysts have been invited to attend.

There are several avenues that Clearwire could take. The company might be adding a new wholesale customer, as it did when it announced a partnership in July with retailer Best Buy. Best Buy will begin reselling Clearwire's service under its Best Buy Connect brand next year. However, Clearwire did not hold a press conference to make that announcement.

Another possibility is that Clearwire might be introducing a prepaid mobile WiMAX strategy. Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) CEO Dan Hesse has said multiple times that the carrier has considered such a move. Sprint is the majority owner of Clearwire and also resells the company's WiMAX service under the Sprint 4G brand.

Another, perhaps less likely scenario is that Clearwire will announce a partnership with another wireless carrier. Both Clearwire and T-Mobile USA indicated this spring that they have had discussions about the possibility of T-Mobile becoming a wholesale customer of Clearwire.

Clearwire is holding the call at 11:30 a.m. EST Monday.

For more:
- see this release

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