Amp’d Mobile may have failed in its bid to become a content driven MVNO, and under-invested in that content model, but it had a well regarded content team of over 50 people, which has now been snapped up by Clearwire. This suggests that the WiMAX provider is starting to refine its business model and look at services beyond basic access and voice, in the wake of its major alliance with the other US WiMAX major, Sprint Nextel.
The Amp’d Mobile team had been talking to various media companies about taking the whole unit on, and Clearwire could prove a good home, where the personnel will have a better chance to make their impact felt than in a larger company like Viacom.
Clearwire has also clarified the split of build-out responsibilities in its new venture with Sprint. Clearwire’s region, while significantly larger in area, will cover about 70 million fewer people than Sprint Nextel’s region, which is expected to cover around 185 million people. Clearwire’s WiMAX footprint eventually should cover about 115m potential customers in central and northern California, the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky Mountain region, parts of the Midwest and most of the South, in addition to Alaska, Hawaii and areas of New York state, Pennsylvania and Texas. Sprint Nextel will build out its mobile WiMAX network coverage throughout the rest of the country.
Clearwire reported a $70.2m loss in its second quarter, due primarily to its continued investment in the construction and deployment of wireless networks in new markets and subscriber acquisition costs. The company reported approximately 41,000 subscriber additions for the quarter, bringing its total subscriber base to 299,000 customers. That marks a 16% increase from the previous quarter and a 130% increase from the year-ago period. It ended the quarter with a network capable of covering around 11.6 million people in 43 domestic and international markets, which is double its covered population from a year earlier. Revenue more than doubled to $35.5 million from $15.4 million the year before, but gross margins were lower because of the cost of new market launches. Clearwire said 14 of its markets are now cashflow positive.