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Sprint, Clearwire sign $1 Billion deal
Sprint Nextel and Clearwire have established a new wholesale pricing terms that provides Clearwire a minimum of $1 billion from Sprint to be paid during 2011 and 2012 for 4G wholesale services. It is comprised of minimum usage commitments of $300 million in 2011, $550 million in 2012 and $175 million in pre-payments for 4G wholesale services to be used in 2011, 2012 and beyond.
In addition to it, the companies reached an agreement regarding wholesale pricing for Sprint devices that operate on both Sprint's 3G network and Clearwire's 4G network. This includes smart phones such as the award-winning HTC EVO™ 4G and Samsung Epic™ 4G and other dual-mode devices like the newly introduced Novatel Wireless MiFi® 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot 4082.
"We are pleased to reach this wholesale pricing agreement with Clearwire. We look forward to working with them under this new agreement to provide an expanded offering of 4G capabilities and solutions for Sprint customers," said Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO.
Clearwire and Sprint also plan further collaboration to expand Sprint's capability to offer customized solutions using 4G technology. This is expected to allow Sprint to better serve its target enterprise and government customers with mission critical wireless broadband solutions both for mobility and local area network applications and expand its Machine-to-Machine (M2M) solutions for large and small businesses.
The agreement also expands the mutual re-wholesaling rights whereby both companies can resell the other's respective 3G and 4G networks to other parties. The agreement is expected to open up new market segments for both Sprint and Clearwire to both jointly and independently pursue.