Judginm it year-end earnings report, Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) spent 2009 converting its pre-WiMax fixed wireless customers into mobile WiMax customers, but as its nationwide 4G build-out ramps up its mobile broadband customer base is beginning to blossom.
Clearwire only had 168,000 net subscriber additions last year, but that number doesn’t explain the whole story. At the end of 2008, Clearwire had 475,000 subscribers on its NextNet fixed and nomadic broadband service, but throughout 2009 it added 438,000 subscribers on its newly built WiMax networks in 27 markets, but it managed to lose 225,000 fixed wireless customers, many of whom converted over to the new 4G service. Clearwire still has 250,000 pre-WiMax subscribers, but if Clearwire continues at its current trajectory, those customers will continue to fall off. Meanwhile, the increased pace in 4G additions as Clearwire activates networks nationwide is more than making up the difference.
Clearwire added 90,000 net retail WiMax subscribers in Q4, offset by only 3000 fixed-wireless customer losses. The quarter before, it added 49,000 mobile WiMax subscribers to the 5000 fixed customer losses. What’s more, Clearwire’s wholesale channel is also starting to grow as Sprint (NYSE:S), Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) ramp up their 4G virtual network services. Clearwire reported wholesale numbers for the first time today, saying it ended the year with 46,000 wholesale subs. Bill Morrow said that he expects wholesale to become an even bigger part of Clearwire’s business in 2010 looks beyond its investors to other companies looking to break into wireless data.
“We intend to enter into additional 3rd party wholesale agreements with other companies later this year,” Morrow said during Clearwire’s earnings call. “There are certainly no shortage of companies. ISPs, fixed-line and wireless carriers, retailers and consumer electronics companies could all benefit from the evolution of connected devices and the unmatched capabilities of our mobile broadband network.”
Can the chipset maker Beceem, which is in every device in the device used by clearwire and sprint, be able to keep up with the demand here in the US and outside.
Thanks.
I don’t see why not. Clearwire is growing but it’s still relatively small. They reported less than 500,000 mobile WiMax customers total, while Beceem is shipping millions of device chipsets a year. No WiMax operator is going to be the size of an AT&T or Verizon any time soon, and frankly there’s not that many large mobile WiMax operators out there. It’s hard to imagine a chipset gap developing. — KF
Don’t forget that Intel is also supplying WiMAX chipsets in key product areas for WiMAX at the moment: laptops and netbooks. Eventually other chipset suppliers will be in products on various networks – Sequans, GCT, MediaTek, and several others.