Clearwire partners with Echostar, DirecTV

Clearwire today said it has signed mutual distribution deals with EchoStar and DirecTV, allowing Clearwire to sell the two satellite providers’ TV services and allowing EchoStar and DirecTV to sell Clearwire’s broadband wireless service.

The deal almost mirrors the one EchoStar and DirecTV have struck with their RBOC partners, except it is reciprocal, letting the two companies get back into the broadband business years after their first attempts with CLEC-provided DSL. Clearwire said it will launch the combined service later this year, and it definitely stands to benefit the most. EchoStar has 13.4 million customers on its Dish Network, and DirecTV has 16 million, compared to Clearwire’s reported 258,000 customers at the end of March. Clearwire may eventually have a direct sales channel into all of those homes as it builds out its network, though it is still relatively small for now.

Clearwire has built its pre-WiMAX network out in about 30 U.S. markets, using equipment from NextNet, which it sold to Motorola last year. Motorola will continue to support the legacy NextNet gear, but it and Clearwire are rolling out Mobile WiMAX base stations that will take advantages of the economies of scale of the global standard.

Clearwire may also be in discussions with Sprint to partner for a joint WiMAX network, the Wall Street Journal reported today. A tie up between the two would expand both companies’ footprints substantially and allow them to share the capital costs and risks.