Clearwire 2007 Annual Report Download - page 21

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populations. We believe that each of the frequencies are or will be suitable for our service. A summary of the
spectrum rights held by our subsidiaries and our equity investees is below, including the frequency band in which
the spectrum is held, an estimate of the population covered by our spectrum in each country and the total MHz-POPs
of our spectrum. We intend to continue to expand our international spectrum holdings. We currently have a
dedicated team of professionals actively pursuing new spectrum opportunities and we are negotiating to acquire
additional spectrum in countries throughout Europe.
Country
Frequency
(GHz)
Licensed
Population(1)
(In millions)
MHz-POPs(2)
(In millions)
Subsidiaries
Belgium ...................................... 3.5 10.4 1,040.0
Germany ...................................... 3.5 82.5 3,465.0
Ireland ....................................... 3.5 1.5 127.5
Poland ....................................... 3.6 38.1 1,066.8
Romania ...................................... 3.5 21.6 1,209.6
Spain ........................................ 3.5 45.1 1,804.0
Equity Investees
Denmark...................................... 3.5 5.4 205.2
Mexico....................................... 2.5 81.0 N/A
(1) Estimates based on country population data derived from the Economist Intelligence Unit database, except for
Denmark, Ireland and Mexico, which are based on census or other market information gathered by us or our
affiliates regarding the number of residents within the licensed coverage area.
(2) Represents the amount of our spectrum in a given area, measured in MHz, multiplied by the estimated
population of that area.
As in the United States, we engineer our international networks to optimize the number of users that the
network can support while providing sufficient capacity and bandwidth. Thus far we have chosen not to launch our
services in a market using our current technology unless we control a minimum of 30 MHz of spectrum. However,
we expect the spectral efficiency of technologies we deploy to continue to evolve, and as a result, we may decide to
deploy our services in some markets with less spectrum. Alternatively, we could find that new technologies and
subscriber usage patterns require us to have more spectrum available in our markets.
Research and Development
Our research and development efforts have focused on the design of our network, enhancements to the
capabilities of our network and the evolution of our service offerings. A significant portion of our development
efforts involves working with the suppliers of our network infrastructure and subscriber equipment. We introduced a
PC card developed in conjunction with Motorola in October 2007. At the same time, we are working with Intel,
Motorola and other vendors to develop network components and subscriber equipment for our mobile WiMAX
network, including an ongoing mobile WiMAX trial in Portland, Oregon. We expect to continue these efforts in the
future.
We spent approximately $1.4 million on research and development activities during the year ended
December 31, 2007.
Suppliers
Motorola, which acquired our former NextNet subsidiary in August 2006, is currently the only supplier of
certain network components and subscriber equipment for the Expedience system deployed on our pre-WiMAX
network. Thus, we are dependent on Motorola to produce the equipment and software we need for our pre-WiMAX
network in a timely manner. Moreover, we are parties to a number of commercial agreements with Motorola that
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