Clearwire 2008 Annual Report Download - page 30

sh
opp
i
ng ma
ll
san
d
a
i
rports), an
db
eam
f
orm
i
ng so
l
ut
i
ons;
h
owever, t
h
ere can
b
e no assurance t
h
at t
h
ese pro
d
ucts
will be develo
p
ed as
p
lanned, or at all.
We spent approximatel
y$
2.2 million on a pro forma basis on research and development activities durin
g
th
e
y
ear en
d
e
d
Decem
b
er 31, 2008.
Supplier
s
Motorola, which acquired Old Clearwire’s NextNet subsidiar
y
in Au
g
ust 200
6
, is currentl
y
the onl
y
supplier o
f
c
ertain network components and subscriber equipment for the Expedience s
y
stem deplo
y
ed on our pre-WiMAX
n
etwork. Thus, we are dependent on Motorola to produce the equipment and software we need for our pre-WiMAX
n
etwor
ki
nat
i
me
ly
manner. For our mo
bil
eW
i
MAX networ
k
, we are us
i
n
g
a num
b
er o
f
supp
li
ers
f
or our networ
k
c
omponents an
d
su
b
scr
ib
er equ
i
pment,
i
nc
l
u
di
n
g
Motoro
l
aan
d
Samsun
g
, amon
g
ot
h
ers
.
C
ompetitio
n
Th
e mar
k
et
f
or
b
roa
db
an
d
serv
i
ces
i
s
highly
compet
i
t
i
ve an
di
nc
l
u
d
es compan
i
es t
h
at o
ff
er a var
i
et
y
o
f
s
ervices usin
g
a number of different technolo
g
ical platforms, such as 3G cellular, cable, DSL, satellite, wireless
Internet service and other emerging technologies. We compete with these companies on the basis of the ease of use,
p
orta
bili
t
y
, spee
d
,re
li
a
bili
t
y
,an
d
pr
i
ce o
f
our respect
i
ve serv
i
ces.
Our principal competitors include wireless providers, cable and DSL operators, Wi-Fi and, prospectivel
y
,
Wi
MAX prov
id
ers, sate
lli
te prov
id
ers an
d
ot
h
ers
.
C
ellular and PCS Services
C
ellular and personal communications services, which we refer to as PCS, carriers are seeking to expand their
c
apac
i
t
y
to prov
id
e
d
ata an
d
vo
i
ce serv
i
ces t
h
at are super
i
or to ours. T
h
ese prov
id
ers
h
ave su
b
stant
i
a
lly b
roa
d
er
g
eo
g
raphic covera
g
e than we have and, for the foreseeable future, than we expect to have. Carriers such as AT&
T
Inc., which we refer to as AT&T, and Verizon Wireless Inc., which we refer to as Verizon Wireless, amon
g
others,
h
ave announce
d
p
l
ans to
d
ep
l
oy LTE w
hi
c
h
,w
h
en
d
eve
l
ope
d
, may
d
e
li
ver per
f
ormance t
h
at
i
ss
i
m
il
ar to, or
b
ette
r
t
han, or ma
y
be more widel
y
accepted than the mobile WiMAX technolo
gy
we are currentl
y
committed to deplo
y.
A
lthou
g
h we do not expect LTE networks to be in commercial operation in the near term, Verizon Wireless has
s
tate
d
t
h
at, start
i
ng
i
n 2009 an
db
eyon
d
,
i
tp
l
ans to
d
ep
l
oy LTE on
i
ts networ
k
.I
f
one or more o
f
t
h
ese prov
id
ers can
deplo
y
technolo
g
ies, such as LTE, that compete effectivel
y
with our services, the mobilit
y
and covera
g
e offered b
y
t
hese carriers will provide even
g
reater competition than we currentl
y
face.
C
a
bl
eMo
d
em an
d
D
S
L
S
ervice
s
We compete with companies that provide Internet connectivit
y
throu
g
h cable modems or DSL. Principal
c
om
p
etitors include cable com
p
anies, such as our Investors, Time Warner Cable and Comcast, as well as incumben
t
t
e
l
ep
h
one compan
i
es, suc
h
as AT&T, Spr
i
nt, Qwest Commun
i
cat
i
ons Internat
i
ona
l
, Inc. an
d
Ver
i
zon Commun
i-
c
ations, Inc.
Wireless Broadband Service Providers
We a
l
so
f
ace compet
i
t
i
on
f
rom ot
h
er w
i
re
l
ess
b
roa
db
an
d
serv
i
ce prov
id
ers t
h
at use
li
cense
d
spectrum
.
Moreover, if our technolo
gy
is successful and
g
arners widespread support, we expect these and other competitors t
o
adopt or modif
y
our technolo
gy
or develop a technolo
gy
similar to ours. We believe that, as network infrastructure
b
ase
d
on mo
bil
eW
i
MAX tec
h
no
l
ogy
b
ecomes commerc
i
a
ll
yava
il
a
bl
ean
d
manu
f
acturers
d
eve
l
op an
d
se
ll
handheld communications and consumer electronic devices that are enabled to communicate usin
g
mobile WiMAX
n
etworks, other network o
p
erators will introduce mobile WiMAX services com
p
arable to ours in both our domestic
an
di
nternat
i
ona
l
mar
k
ets.
18