Clearwire, the broadband wireless services provider founded by Craig McCaw, agreed to acquire all 2.5 GHz spectrum currently licensed to, or leased by, BellSouth, now AT&T. The sale price is $300 million in cash. For AT&T, the deal follows through on a commitment of the AT&T-BellSouth merger.
The sale includes EBS (Education Broadband Service) spectrum, which is reserved for accredited educational institutions and noneducational organizations. Groups holding EBS licenses may lease portions of their spectrum to commercial operators. The sale also includes BRS (Broadband Radio Service) spectrum, which is used for commercial delivery of high speed wireless broadband services.
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- In January 2007, Clearwire named Scott Richardson as the company’s new chief strategy officer. Richardson previously served as vice president of Intel’s Mobility Group and general manager of the company’s Service Provider Business Group. In these roles, Richardson led Intel’s broadband wireless efforts from its inception and was responsible for driving the company’s 802.16 silicon products for WiMax Certified wireless equipment and access devices.
- In July 2006, Clearwire secured $900 million in funding to accelerate its development and deployment of portable and mobile WiMAX networks based on the IEEE 802.16e-2005 standard. The deal included a $600 million investment from Intel Capital, its largest to date, and Motorola’s acquisition of Clearwire’s subsidiary NextNet Wireless, which supplies OFDM-based non-line-of-sight (NLOS) wireless broadband infrastructure equipment.
- Clearwire was founded in October 2003 by Craig McCaw. Before creating Clearwire, McCaw founded McCaw Cellular – later purchased by AT&T Wireless.