Clearwire Reduces Loss - Misses Revenue Expectations

US WiMAX operator, Clearwire has announced second-quarter loss of US$73.4 million - down slightly on the US$74.6 million a year ago. Revenues rose from US$58.6 million to US$63.6 million, but disappointed investors who had expected a better performance.

"The strides we have made in the past two months, including the launch of CLEAR in Atlanta and Las Vegas, nationwide roaming with the CLEAR 4G+ dual-mode modem and wholesale distribution with Comcast in Portland and Atlanta clearly demonstrate Clearwire's ability to build on early momentum and begin to successfully execute against our aggressive growth plans," said Bill Morrow, chief executive officer of Clearwire.

"The next wave of CLEAR launches in 2009 is on track to extend our 4G network to over 30 million people in more than 25 markets by the end of 2009 bringing Clearwire's total network coverage in both legacy and 4G markets to over 40 million people," Morrow continued.

Clearwire expects to offer 4G service in markets covering 30 million people at the end of this year including in the following markets: Atlanta; Baltimore; Boise; Chicago; Las Vegas; Philadelphia; Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro, NC; Honolulu and Maui, HI; Seattle and Bellingham, WA; Portland and Salem, OR; and Dallas/Ft. Worth, San Antonio, Austin, Abilene, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Waco and Wichita Falls, Texas.

Business Outlook

Clearwire maintained its business outlook for 2009 and 2010, expecting ARPU to be generally sustained at current levels over this period of significant development and expansion of its wireless 4G network. The Company continues to anticipate that Churn will increase in its pre-WiMAX markets as the Company transitions these networks to mobile WiMAX technology and that CPGA will increase as new markets are launched, consistent with Clearwire's past operating experience.

Clearwire continues to target total net cash spend, which represents the change in cash and short-term investment balances, in the range of $1.5 to $1.9 billion for the full year 2009.

Posted to the site on 12th August 2009