Fergie's Tech Blog

Om Malik: Clearwire Goes For $400 Million IPO

Om Malik writes on his Next Generation blog:

With all the talk about network neutrality, and the buzz around fixed wireless, WiMAX and wireless broadband, it is no surprise that Clearwire is getting ready to cash in. The company started by wireless zen master Craig McCaw has just filed to go public and is looking to raise as much as $400 million. Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Securities, Bear Sterns, and Wachovia Capital Markets are the underwriters. The company has raised nearly $360 million so far from backers that include McCaw, Intel Corp., and Bell Canada.

Clearwire’s decision to tap the public markets underscores the fact that setting up big nationwide WiMAX network in the US is going to be very very expensive. In-Stat, estimates that it would take a total of $3 billion to set-up a national WiMAX network in the US. Clearwire was started back in 2003, and uses pre-WiMAX gear developed by its NextNet Wireless arm to provide download speeds of 1.5 Mbps.

posted by Fergie @ 5/11/2006 09:17:00 AM