Clearwire, Sprint give birth to new WiMax venture

It looks like there’s life in US WiMax yet. US providers Clearwire and SprintNextel have agreed to combine their WiMax networks into a new company, under the Clearwire brand.

They’ve got some powerful friends on board too: Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks have agreed to finance the new company to the tune of $3.2 billion. Sprint will remain the biggest shareholder in the company with 51 percent.

After all the trouble with its Xohm WiMax network Sprint has been having lately, a lot of people had predicted a swift death for the technology. Not so. It seems Google and Intel, both of whom have a lot of clout and a vested interested in seeing the technology succeed, are determined to keep the network going. Hopefully this is the shot in the arm mobile WiMax needs.