Comcast to resell Clearwire WiMAX service in Portland

Comcast plans on reselling Clearwire's mobile WiMAX service in Portland, Ore., later this year. The move may indicate that Comcast would follow suit market-by-market as Clearwire continues to roll out its WiMAX service.

Comcast, which is Oregon's largest cable TV operator, will set up an MVNO through Clearwire's Clear service, according to Comcast COO Stephen Burke. Burke said the company will buy the mobile WiMAX service from Clearwire and likely bundle it with its cable TV, home phone and broadband services.

Comcast was one of the major investors in Clearwire, providing more than $1 billion of the $3.2 billion Clearwire received from Google, Intel, Time Warner and others. Clearwire made a $600 million write-down of its investment in WiMAX operator Clearwire in the fourth quarter of 2008. 

Clearwire plans to launch mobile WiMAX service in Las Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and the Dallas/Ft. Worth areas in 2009. It also will convert existing pre-WiMAX markets in Seattle, Honolulu and Charlotte to mobile WiMAX.

For more:
- see this Oregonian article
- see this article

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