Sprint Nextel, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Intel, Eagle River and Bright House Networks Collectively Commit $1.564 Billion in Equity Financing

Here's what other investors are going to do ...

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Sprint continues to fund the 4G wireless Internet provider.

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AlcaLu and Moto lead LTE-focused round for chip designer Sequans

Verizon Test WiMAX Test Sprint held a happy hour last night to show off the WiMAX launch in here Austin, Texas, so I wandered over for some BBQ and broadband. I want to love WiMAX, but I can’t get excited about the promise of upload speeds of some 400 kilobits per second, which are only a wee [...]

Sprint Nextel (S) has expanded its fourth-generation (4G) wireless broadband network to two more US cities. The third largest US carrier has officially launched commercial services in San Antonio and Austin in Texas. The company’s 4G services now covers about 25 markets in the US, with plans to address more than 120 million people by [...]

(S) Sprint Expands 4G Network – Reduces Debt

Sprint Nextel (S) has expanded its fourth-generation (4G) wireless broadband network to two more US cities. The third largest US carrier has officially launched commercial services in San Antonio and Austin in Texas. The company’s 4G services now covers about 25 markets in the US, with plans to address more than 120 million people by the end of 2009.
 
Subscribers across the newly launched markets can now enjoy lightning fast mobile broadband experience by paying just $10 per month over their existing 3G wireless data plans. The 4G WiMax network offers up to 10 times faster network speeds than the existing 3G deployments. The download speeds enabled by the 4G WiMax network average 3−6 megabits per second (Mbps), with peak speeds exceeding 10 Mbps.  
 
Sprint offers its 4G service under the "Sprint 4G" brand and leverages the WiMax (a mobile broadband technology) network operated by Clearwire Corporation (CLWR) in which it holds a 51% stake. Sprint recently announced its plan to invest an additional US$1.2 billion in Clearwire to facilitate the 4G service roll-out.
 
The 4G WiMax service is expected to play a critical role for Sprint’s survival in the domestic wireless market, given its continued market share losses to larger rivals. The company plans to continue the aggressive network deployments through 2010 with 4G service launches in key US markets such as Boston, Houston, New York , San Francisco and Washington D.C.
 
Sprint’s peers AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) are preparing to deploy their own 4G networks in the 2010−2011 timeframe based on the Long-Term Evaluation (“LTE"), an emerging 4G wireless standard. LTE has demonstrated higher throughput levels than WiMax in technical trials.
 
Sprint has reportedly repaid US$1 billion debt using its existing cash resources. This has effectively erased all outstanding balance on the company’s US$4.5 billion revolving credit facility.
 
This significant debt reduction initiative follows the warning issued by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services for a possible credit rating downgrade due to the company’s lackluster operating results through third-quarter 2009. The company reported a bigger net loss and lower revenue in the last quarter due to the weak performance of its postpaid wireless business.
 
Sprint is increasingly focused on cost reduction as a declining subscriber base continued to weigh on its top-line. The company recently revealed a workforce reduction plan as it targets to downsize up to 2,500 jobs by the end of the current year. This is expected to help the company to reduce costs by at least $350 million.
 
While Sprint’s 4G expansion and cost-cutting measures appear encouraging, the company is expected to remain challenged by the sustained erosion in its wireless contract customer base through 2009. However, the healthy growth at Boost Monthly prepaid mobile business may offset most of these losses.
Read the full analyst report on "S"
Read the full analyst report on "CLWR"
Read the full analyst report on "T"
Read the full analyst report on "VZ"
Zacks Investment Research

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• Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) posted a third quarter loss of 43 cents a share, versus Zacks estimates of a 45 cents loss as revenues increased 13.2% to $68.8 million, slightly ahead of Zacks estimates of $68 million.  The firm maintained 2009-2010 guidance, and plans new $1.564 billion in equity financing

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Zacks Investment Research

Clearwire, as expected, said today that it’s managed to cajole $1.56 billion out of most of its previous investors to continue its buildout of the Clear WiMAX network. However, those doubling down on WiMAX (see chart) as the ideal fourth-generation wireless technology are likely throwing good money after bad. Even if we ignore the [...]

Guest: Michael "Mish" Shedlock opens our eyes to the real economic issues that are causing such problems.

Schaeffer's Colleen King takes a look at activity on the Street ahead of the market open

Clearwire Corporation (Public, NASDAQ:CLWR) shares had a great day yesterday jumping $1 after news the Sprint (S) deal was being revisited.  Today, the thrill is gone and shares of CLWR are down 17% and falling right back to under $13 a share.

Today, Clearwire Chief Executive Ben Wolff made it official and said the two companies have made progress on terms for a roaming deal for their high-speed wireless networks based on WiMax technology.  Wolff went on to say that Sprint and Clearwire are also working on collaborating in other areas, but did not give details. He declined to comment on recent reports speculating that Sprint and Clearwire were looking to merge their WiMax assets with investments from outside companies.

The market could care less, dropping CLWR hard and as shares fall we get closer to the $10.29 52-week low.  Fellow Masters, should Clearwire shares continue to fall, we've got ourselves a buying opportunity on our hands.  Wolff said today that Clearwire's preliminary revenue for the fourth quarter coming in at $45 million and a total subscriber base of 394,000, including domestic and international markets.

Don't forget that Clearwire's IPO price was $25 last year and now shares are trading at half the value.  Back on Jan 3rd Sid Parakh of McAdams Wright Ragen said that Clearwire is not being valued appropriately, and revised the company's price target up to as much as $28 a share.

Parakh wrote that if you added up only the value of Clearwire's spectrum -- or airwaves that it owns -- it would have an estimated value of about $11 to $25 a share.

Why is it undervalued?

Tom Dorsey and Tammy DeRosier - Odds and Ends: From Cinco de Mayo to NASDAQ

Of the 105 IPOs from October 20, 2006 through March 9, 2007, the average gain was 16% For the 10 companies in the tech sector, the average gain was 12%
Going into their IPOs Four were profitable AeroVironment (AVAV) IPG Photonics (IPGP) Opnext (OPXT) and Mellanox Technologies (MLNX)

Six were unprofitable Clearwire (CLWR) Guidance Software (GUID) Isilon Systems (ISLN) Salary.com (SLRY) Sourcefire (FIRE) and Switch and Data (SDXC)