Clearwire cuts CapEX by half for this year

[Rickie546]

Running low on cash, clearwire has cut capex by half thus slowing down there LTE network, wonder what this means now?

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-25/clearwire-posts-narrower-loss-than-estimated-after-cutting-costs.html?cmpid=yhoo

[keelerman8042]

Maybe sprint will buy out clearwire I think it would be in the best interest with Softbank now but I wouldn't really know thats what I would do tho if I were sprint

 

[alphnasx]

Running low on cash, clearwire has cut capex by half thus slowing down there LTE network, wonder what this means now?

 

http://www.bloomberg...html?cmpid=yhoo

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sprint-says-one-quarter-behind-122103397.html

 

Sprint NV delay is causing CLWR LTE TD delay!!!!

[Rawvega]

Running low on cash, clearwire has cut capex by half thus slowing down there LTE network, wonder what this means now?

 

Here's what it means: http://seekingalpha....pt?source=yahoo

 

Clearwire is not delaying per se, but it is reducing it's initial TD-LTE build from 5000 sites to 2000 sites at the end of June 2013. They are supposedly on track to have 800 sites completed by the end of the year.

[dedub]

They are supposedly on track to have 800 sites completed by the end of the year.

 

I want to know when they (or sprint) will have a device that can actually use one of those 800 sites.

[Rawvega]

I believe the word from the conference call was Q2 2013 for hotspots, dongles, etc. and Q3 2013 for phones with 2.5GHz TD-LTE (and presumably 800MHz LTE). Supposedly SoftBank already has announced a half dozen devices with 2.5GHz TD-LTE support.

Edited October 26, 2012 by Rawvega

[dedub]

right, they either need to slow down further sites even more, or light a fire under getting devices that can use it shipped.

 

800+ sites sitting idle for 3 quarters waiting on devices is just plain retarded.

 

edit not necessarily referring to phones, but to hotspots and other devices they need to get out.

 

A very idle, very expensive network does no one any good.

Edited October 26, 2012 by dedub

[S4GRU]

I believe the word from the conference call was Q2 2013 for hotspots' date=' dongles, etc. and Q3 2013 for phones with 2.5GHz TD-LTE (and presumably 800MHz LTE). Supposedly SoftBank already has announced a half dozen devices with 2.5GHz TD-LTE support.[/quote']

 

I think the last update I saw had smart phones at Q2-2013.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 using Forum Runner

[tybo31316]

What's the chances of clearwire cutting back their rollout to integrate their td LTE rollout with network vision after the Softbank investment?

[bigsnake49]

What's the chances of clearwire cutting back their rollout to integrate their td LTE rollout with network vision after the Softbank investment?

 

From the earnings call:

 

Recently, we have had discussions on opportunities to better align our respective build schedules. Based on our determination of when Sprint expects to start utilizing Clearwire's LTE capacity, we have decided to adjust our LTE rollout to now target 2,000 sites on-air by the end of June 2013, while keeping content the longer-term goal of expanding our LTE network to up to 8,000 sites.

With more than 2,200 NTPs in hand, our sites are on pace to meet the 2,000 site target. In fact we already have sites fully commissioned with LTE awaiting connection to Sprint's core and expect the build activity to ramp in the fourth quarter, to end the year with approximately 800 LTE commissioned sites.

 

http://seekingalpha.com/article/952651-clearwire-management-discusses-q3-2012-results-earnings-call-transcript?page=3

 

So yes, they are aligning their plans with Sprint's and since Sprint is at least a quarter behind schedule, they will not need the capacity until later.

[tybo31316]

That's very good news I never liked the fact that wasn't taking full advantage of clear wires spectrum holdings to be more competitive against the big two. I see since the Softbank investment maybe sprint has the capital to do all the things that they wanted to do all along

[bigsnake49]

Yes, I think that Sprint and Softbank can now be very aggressive and think strategically, not just tactically, quarter to quarter. I would like for them to acquire more PCS spectrum so that they can offer more services. For example internet radio. I would gladly pay an extra $10/mo if it did not count against my data plan. That way I could move away from unlimited and to a usage based pricing scenario.

[dedub]

For example internet radio. I would gladly pay an extra $10/mo if it did not count against my data plan. That way I could move away from unlimited and to a usage based pricing scenario.

 

/boggle that is the exact opposite of 'network neutrality', and why would anyone *want* to micromanage their data usage and pay extra for unlimited internet radio

[Guest 503ducati]

Snippet from an article I found: http://www.dailywire...lte-deployment/

 

 

Clearwire owns nearly all the spectrum in the 2.5-2.6 GHz band and plans to use Time Division LTE on nearly all their spectrum (defined as Band 38). Other countries, particularly in Europe, have divided the 2.6 GHz band into two chunks; one for Time Division (band 39) and one for Frequency Division (band 7) (pdf).

 

Band 7 is the paired 140 Mhz-wide FD-LTE band from 2500-2570/2620-2690. Band 39 is the 50 MHz-wide TD-LTE band in Europe, from 2570-2620. That means three big carriers could grab 20Mhz x 2, while any TD-LTE competitors would not likely be able to get a single 40 MHz chunk.

 

Guess who helped devise that plan.

 

The China Mobile, Clearwire, Softband approach would use all of the 2.6 GHz band for TD-LTE, defined as band 38. The Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI) announced that China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile network, Softbank Japan, the largest current TD-LTE provider, and Clearwire, the major proponent of TD-LTE in the United States, are working together to devote nearly the entire 200 MHz band to TD-LTE (band 38), and to make their infrastructure and consumer equipment interoperable and compatible.

 

Leading TDD operators, include China Mobile, India’s Bharti Airtel, South Korea’s KT, Japan’s SoftBank, the US ClearWire, UK Broadband and P1.

[brad162]

Honestly i'm sure that announcement was to light a fire under sprint since the softbank deal was announced, if you think about it what better way to get some of that cash than to almost stop expanding since you're short on cash when your majority owner just came across $8 billion (or 20.1 depending on how you look at it)

[S4GRU]

Honestly i'm sure that announcement was to light a fire under sprint since the softbank deal was announced' date=' if you think about it what better way to get some of that cash than to almost stop expanding since you're short on cash when your majority owner just came across 8 billion (or 20.1 depending on how you look at it)[/quote']

 

Interesting theory. Clearwire has certainly played that card before.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II using Forum Runner