Clear is reportedly planning to drop its own retail brand and realign its strategy solely as a wholesale network provider for its WiMAX service, sources have told the Wall Street Journal. Sprint, which owns a non-controlling majority stake in Clearwire, will no longer have to compete directly with Clear. Neither would Comcast or Time Warner, who also resale the WiMAx service.
The strategy shift is believed to be related to funding problems, as Clear has failed to meet its original targets for network expansion. Initial promises set a 2010 goal of 200 million potential customers, but the company only reached 100 million in that time frame.
Clearwire has yet to publicly confirm plans to drop its retail strategy.
