Clearwire 2007 Annual Report Download - page 17

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We also offer our services pursuant to distribution agreements through national retail chains, and we
believe that the percentage of our total sales from this indirect sales channel will continue to increase.
Clearwire owned and operated retail. We market our products and services through a number of
Clearwire-operated retail outlets, including retail stores, but primarily kiosks located in malls and shopping
centers. We generally compensate these employees on an hourly basis plus commissions.
Internet and telephone sales. We direct prospective subscribers to our website or our telesales centers in
our advertising. Our website is a fully functional sales channel where subscribers can check pricing and service
availability, research service plans and activate accounts using a credit card. Prospective subscribers can also
call into one of our telesales centers to activate service.
Wholesale distribution. We intend to sell our wireless broadband Internet services at wholesale rates to
strategic distribution partners, who as part of their agreements with us can re-market our services under their
own brand name, under our brand name or on a co-branded basis.
Customer Service and Technical Support
We typically initiate each customer subscription through a credit or debit card approval process. In our
domestic markets, we also check the subscriber’s credit and, depending on the result, may require the customer to
purchase the wireless modem. Once we have an approved form of payment, we activate service and make an initial
charge on the card to cover the activation fee and the first month of service. Finally, we establish monthly recurring,
automatic card charges for the duration of the subscriber’s relationship with us. All of our subscriber invoices are
electronic.
We believe reliable customer service and technical support are critical to attracting and retaining subscribers
and we currently provide the following support for all subscribers:
• Toll-free, live telephone and email-based assistance available seven days a week;
• Resources on our website that cover frequently asked questions and provide signal and networking tips;
• Online account access and, for VoIP subscribers, web-based resources that allow them to control their
telephony features and settings; and
• A network of service technicians available to provide on-site customer assistance and technical support.
In October 2006, we opened a call center in Las Vegas, Nevada currently staffed with approximately
230 customer service and technical support personnel. In April 2007, we opened a second call center in Milton,
Florida currently staffed with approximately 190 customer service representatives. We believe that having our own
internal customer service and technical support personnel enables us to deliver a consistent, high quality customer
service, thereby improving subscriber retention.
Currently, some of our customer care operations are outsourced to a third-party vendor. However, we provide
our own internal customer care services for calls regarding complicated technical support and retention issues.
Our Networks
Pre-WiMAX Network
Our pre-WiMAX network, in both our domestic and international markets, relies on the Expedience wireless
broadband access system that supports delivery of any IP-compatible broadband applications, including high-speed
Internet access and VoIP telephony services. This system, which is manufactured by NextNet Wireless, Inc., a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Motorola, is comprised of base station transceivers, a network management system,
and modems used by our subscribers. Expedience operates over our spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band in the
United States and in the 3.5 GHz band in Europe. We believe that the Expedience system has certain key advantages
over competing technologies that are currently available, such as:
• simple self-installation by subscribers and provisioning of modems, with no software installation required
on the subscriber’s computer;
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