Kirkland,
Wash. – Mobile WiMAX
carrier
expects to offer two
dual-mode 3G/4G handsets by the end of the year, the company said in announcing
its first-quarter results.
One handset will be made by Samsung, and the other will be made
by HTC. Although the carrier did not offer many details, it said the Samsung
phone would be Android-based and “optimized for heavy video and video
communications use.” Both phones will feature Wi-Fi.
The HTC phone could be the
Android-based
, unveiled by Clearwire majority owner Sprint earlier this year and
targeted for summertime availability to Sprint subscribers.
Sprint, which resells Clearwire service under its own brand, has
promoted the full-touchscreen Evo as the world’s first Android-based 4G phone.
The Android 2.1-based device will access Sprint’s 4G Mobile WiMAX data service,
3G CDMA 1x EV-DO Rev. A data network, and 3G voice network. The Evo also
features a built-in Wi-Fi hot spot that connects up to eight Wi-Fi-equipped
devices to Sprint’s 3G and 4G networks.
Clearwire also announced the names of new markets that will get
4G service as part of a previously announced plan to expand the network to 120
million people by the end of 2010. At the end of 2009, the company offered
service in 27 markets with a population of more than 30 million people. Since
then, it added five more: Houston and Harrisburg, Reading, Lancaster and York, Pa.
During the summer, Clearwire will turn on Nashville, Tenn.;
Daytona, Orlando, Tampa, Fla.; Rochester and Syracuse, N.Y.; Merced, Modesto,
Stockton, and Visalia, Calif.; Wilmington, Del.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; and
Yakima and Tri-Cities, Wash.
Clearwire previously announced plans for summertime launches in Kansas City, Kan.; St. Louis; Salt Lake City;
and the Washington D.C.
core.
With the summertime launches announced to date, the Clearwire
network would cover 50 markets.
Other major markets due by the end of 2010 are New York City, Los
Angeles, Boston,
Denver, Minneapolis,
the San Francisco Bay area, Miami,
Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
In other announcements, Clearwire said it expects to expand its
subscriber base by year’s end to 2 million, including people who subscribe to
one of its resellers’ service. That would be up from 971,000 at the end of the
first quarter. Of those subscribers, 157,000 subscribed to service offered by
one of the carrier’s resellers.
The company also reported first-quarter net adds of 283,000,
exceeding full-year 2009 net adds. The company’s net loss grew to $94.1 million
in the first quarter, up from a year-ago $71.1 million.
Clear’s network
delivers average mobile download speeds of 3Mbps to 6Mbps with bursts exceeding
10Mbps, the company said.
Service is available
through a variety of devices, including a 4G desktop modem, a 4G USB modem, 3G/4G USB
modem, and WiMAX-embedded laptops available direct from manufacturers and
through other channels.
