Clearwire to eventually drop WiMax for LTE

High speed network provider Clearwire is planning on making a huge change to its network, eventually switching from WiMax to Long Term Evolution (LTE). Clearwire COO Erik Prusch said, "WiMax to date has been a very good technology choice for us. We were able to take advantage of the speed to market before LTE was even a glimmer in anyone's eye. But we recognize the ecosystem in the U.S. will be larger for LTE than WiMax, so we are conscious of that. We don't believe that customers buy a technology. They buy fast and reliable access to a data network."

Despite the comments, Prusch said that not only wasn't there a timeline in place to make the switch, Clearwire is not 100% committed yet to dumping WiMax in favor of LTE. The reason is that LTE must mature first before the financially strapped firm makes the change. In the meantime, trials have been conducted by Clearwire of Long Term Evolution.

One major problem is that Clearwire has enough money in the till to support only about 1 year of business. Despite picking up $1 billion from Sprint, the only one of the top 4 major U.S. mobile carriers to use Clearwire's WiMax for 4G service, Prusch says that the company needs more money. "We do need additional funding to continue to extend our network," he said. "And we're bullish about being able to secure that funding either in by relying on our strategic investors or through new investors. We also think we can grow revenue organically by growing our revenue and becoming profitable."