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January 08, 2009

WiMAX Turbulence?

By Gary Kim
Contributing Editor

Get ready for spin meisters to go quite active over the next several weeks on prospects for U.S. WiMAX. That's because there's some news that might be considered a negative for Clearwire (News - Alert), though most of it relates to financial, not operating metrics.

Intel and at least one other investor have written a significant portion of their investments in Clearwire. Intel has written off $950 million of its $1.6 billion investment, since Clearwire shares dropped 74 percent during calendar 2008.
 
Time Warner (News - Alert) is booking a $350 million charge related to its stake in Clearwire.
 
Comcast (News - Alert) Corp. likewise will take an asset-impairment charge on its stake in Clearwire Corp., but it won't write down the value of its franchise rights like Time Warner Inc. did, sources say.
 
Comcast has yet to calculate how large its charge will be on Clearwire.
 
Less important strategically, but worrying for WiMAX backers, is a reported decision by Nokia (News - Alert) to drop its support for a WiMax version of its N810 tablet.
 
None of this should really be surprising, as Clearwire has had a less-than-fully-funded business plan for years, and has repeatedly said it will need to raise more capital to fund its national build-out.

Gary Kim (News - Alert) is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Gary's articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Tim Gray


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