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T-Mobile in Talks with Clearwire, Going WiMax?

By: , IntoMobile
Friday, September 24th, 2010 at 10:03 AM

T-Mobile is a bit behind the 4G game having only recently rolled out its temporary fix – HSPA+. While carriers like Sprint are already on board with WiMax and Verizon and AT&T have both talked of their LTE plans, T-Mobile didn’t really have much of a game plan. Or at least a game plan that was evident to everyone else. Now the fourth largest carrier in the U.S. is in talks with Clearwire with the possibility that it will use the latter’s WiMax network.

Clearwire, who owns and operates a WiMax network of its own, is hoping that T-Mobile will make an equity investment in it. In doing so, Clearwire would rent access to its WiMax network to T-Mobile. Otherwise, if the equity investment doesn’t go through and T-Mobile decides not to fund Clearwire, Clearwire CEO Bill Morrow said, “In the event we don’t come to an equity arrangement, they could be a wholesale customer.”

It would be interesting to see how this plays out, and whether T-Mobile would be using WiMax in the future. After all, in areas where its HSPA+ coverage is strong, T-Mobile’s speedy 3G network is just as fast as what WiMax is currently offering.

[Via: PhoneScoop]

About The Author

Marc Flores

Marc has been a mobile fanatic for the better part of a decade and has had more devices pass through his hands than he would care to count. Originally from Los Angeles and briefly in San Francisco, Marc now lives in Brooklyn where, unlike Will Park, he longs for simpler times and simpler technology. All the while, he writes about gadgets and wireless technology as he tinkers, hacks and ultimately breaks most of his gadgets in the process. Marc has written about the mobile industry for Boy Genius Report, MobileCrunch, Laptop Magazine and has had his work appear in the Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo, CrunchGear and more.

  • Facts

    Tard,

    TMobile is not going to change there phones to wimax. They will be renting bandwidth from CLWR. CLWR has said it is already testing LTE probably due to this deal.

    Get you facts straight

    • http://www.intomobile.com Marc Flores

      First of all, before you accuse me of getting my facts straight, learn how to spell words correctly. Secondly, you might also want to learn how to read or comprehend what you’re reading. Not once did I say T-Mobile was going to be switching to WiMax phones. I made it abundantly clear that the carrier would either rent WiMax from Clearwire or become a wholesale buyer. I also said that T-Mobile could use WiMax in the future, but I never specified how, because I don’t know.

      Your whole attack on me is ironic, really.

      • MarcIdiot

        Tard,

        Wimax is a technology. They will not rent Wimax from CLWR, however they will rent bandwidth from CLWR that will allow them to deploy LTE.

  • AJ Johnson

    AJ,

    For your review…

    Mark Anderson