WCA: Clearwire half-way to 20-city market plan

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Until this week, some people in the telecom industry might have thought that Clearwire, described by a source affiliated with one WCA exhibitor here as "Craig McCaw's Excellent Broadband Wireless Adventure," was falling behind in its commitment to roll out 20 markets by the end of this year. However, Perry Satterlee, the chief operating officer of Clearwire who spoke at the conference, said launches in Eugene, Ore., Midland, Texas, and Stockton and Modesto, Calif., within the last week have helped Clearwire hit the half-way point in that plan.

"We said last year we were going to do 20 markets, and now you are starting to see us close in on that," Satterlee said, adding that Clearwire still plans to be in its 20th market by the end of this year. The company has not revealed details for further launches after that point.

Meanwhile, the vendor-affiliated source who made the joking reference about Craig McCaw's broadband wireless juggernaut confirmed that it will be very difficult to win any business from Clearwire, since the service provider owns its own vendor, Nextnet Wireless.

"They seem to be very resolute in their innovation path, and it's one they control, so there doesn't seem to be much opportunity at this point," the source said.