LS2 customers begin to migrate to Clearwire

[legion125]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 23 January 2012

 

It always starts with one. How many will we see in the coming months?

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/clearwire-nabs-lightsquared-customer-simplexity-mvne-partner/2012-01-23

[S4GRU]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 23 January 2012

 

 

Great post. I read about the Simplexity deal with Clearwire this morning, but I didn't know then that they were a LightSquared wholesale customer.

 

If I was a company in need of a wholesale 4G solution, I'm not sure I would be excited about either company in the short term.

LightSquared will probably build their network out nationwide quickly. So you will be able to get meaningful deployment nearly nationwide in 24 months. Something your customers will be able to use quickly and watch deploy fast. However, this all just potential, because, as we all know, LightSqaured can't get spectrum approvals and subsequently cannot raise the money it needs. A wonderful potential network.

 

In contrast, an MVNO with Clearwire will get you a real network. They already have a WiMax network partially deployed, and they are definitely deploying a new 4G LTE network. However, the new network will likely be deployed slow. It also will not be nationwide. If it ever goes nationwide, it will take them 5+ years to do so. I think in 36 months, Clear's 4G LTE network will likely be fully deployed in less than 50 markets, and on thousands of Sprint towers as additional capacity (whcih in the best case scenario create thousands of little islands in markets where Clear hasn't fully deployed). So a wonderful, yet geographically limited network.

 

You can't be excited about either of these two options.

 

However, Sprint has said they will offer MVNO solutions to their 4G LTE network in the future. Also, as part of the deal Sprint made with Clearwire back in December, Sprint can wholesale deal Clearwire's LTE network. So a MVNO deal with Sprint that uses Sprint and Clearwire's 4G LTE seems to make the most sense as this time for companies needing wholesale 4G solutions.

[legion125]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 24 January 2012

 

Unfortunately this testing phase with Clear and China Mobile is just going to slow things up some more. I didn't think it would take as long as they mentioned or be as involved, but I suppose the technology is more in its infancy then I realized. I think a lot of companies are taking a wait & see approach to Clear. Companies took a risk with LS2 on the promise of a network, so now I think CEO's will wait until Clear either starts deploying LTE or has the network in operation before it starts to sign customers.

[pyroscott]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 24 January 2012

 

Hopefully if Lightsquared doesn't end up building out their network and calls it quits, Clearwire will see the opportunity to scoop up all those customers and build their network faster, but they will probably need to raise more capital to speed up their build out.

[legion125]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 25 January 2012

 

I think companies will also be hesitant on investing in equipment. Who will want to make an outlay for WiMax receivers when 1-3 years down the road you would have to invest in more equipment. Not an issue with carriers who just need to provide LTE handsets, I referring to the companies that will use the network for stickily data transfers.