TMCnet’s Russell Shaw reports in his Regulation blog that Clearwire and Sprint Nextel are not going to work together on a nationwide WiMAX network. Citing a story in the Wall Street Journal, Shaw says:
A letter of intent to build such a network was signed in July, when Gary Forsee was still CEO of beleaguered Sprint Nextel. But that was before Forsee- who had championed the deal- lost significant support among his company's Board of Directors, resigned his position in early October.Forsee's departure, as well as what the Journal sources termed the "complexities of the transaction," were apparently too much to convert the letter of intent into a signed, sealed commitment with a firm go-ahead.
Obviously this is not good for Clearwire or WiMAX in general. It is also not good for Sprint whose strategy seems to shift more than the wind as of late.
One reason this deal fell through could be that Sprint has thrown in the towel and decided to sell. This would make sense because there are willing buyers in the cable companies and Google may too be on the sidelines ready to make a bid. We may be hearing some M&A news from the company in the upcoming months. This is pure speculation mind you but the cable companies do need a wireless play and owning Sprint makes a good deal of sense.
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