Clearwire 2009 Annual Report Download - page 26

s
erv
i
ces an
dd
ata-
i
ntens
i
ve mu
l
t
i
me
di
a content, suc
h
as v
id
eocon
f
erenc
i
ng, on
li
ne games, stream
i
ng au
di
o, v
id
e
o
on demand and location-based services.
I
n
te
rn
atio
n
al
As of December 31, 2009, we held spectrum ri
g
hts in Bel
g
ium, German
y
, Ireland, Poland, Romania and Spain
.
W
e also held a minority investment in a company that holds spectrum in Mexico. In each of Germany, Poland,
Roman
i
aan
d
Spa
i
n, our
li
censes cover t
h
e ent
i
re country. Our
li
censes
i
nBe
l
g
i
um an
d
Ire
l
an
d
cover a s
i
gn
ifi
cant
p
ort
i
on o
f
t
h
e countr
i
es’ popu
l
at
i
ons. A summar
y
o
f
t
h
e
i
nternat
i
ona
l
spectrum r
igh
ts
h
e
ld by
our su
b
s
idi
ar
i
es an
d
our equity investees is below, including the frequency band in which the spectrum is held, an estimate of th
e
p
opu
l
at
i
on covere
db
y our spectrum
i
n eac
h
country an
d
t
h
e tota
l
MHz-POPs o
f
our spectrum
.
C
ountr
y
F
requenc
y
(
GHz
)
L
i
ce
n
sed
p
o
p
ulation
(
1
)
MHz-POPs
(
2
)
(
In millions
)(
In millions
)
B
e
lgi
u
m
......................................
3
.
5
7.
6
6
14.
0
G
ermany ......................................
3
.
5
8
2.8 3
,
477.
6
I
re
l
an
d
......................................
.
3
.
5/3
.
6
1.
5
127.
5
Polan
d
.......................................
3
.
6
38.1 1
,
066.
8
R
omania
(
3
)
.................................... 3.
5
2
1.6 1
,
209.6
S
p
ai
n
........................................ 3.
5
45
.
5
1,820.0
(1) Estimates based on countr
y
population data derived from the Economist Intelli
g
ence Unit database.
(2) Represents the amount of our spectrum in a
g
iven area, measured in MHz, multiplied b
y
the estimate
d
p
opu
l
at
i
on o
f
t
h
at area
.
(3) We
di
spose
d
o
f
our
h
o
ldi
ngs
i
n Roman
i
a
d
ur
i
ng t
h
e
fi
rst quarter o
f
2010.
As in the United States, we en
g
ineer our international networks to optimize the number of users that th
e
n
etwork can support while providin
g
sufficient capacit
y
and bandwidth. Thus far, we have chosen not to launch ou
r
s
erv
i
ces
i
n a mar
k
et us
i
ng our current tec
h
no
l
ogy un
l
ess we contro
l
am
i
n
i
mum o
f
30 MHz o
f
spectrum. However,
we expect t
h
e spectra
l
e
ffi
c
i
enc
y
o
f
tec
h
no
l
o
gi
es we
d
ep
l
o
y
to cont
i
nue to evo
l
ve, an
d
as a resu
l
t, we ma
yd
ec
id
et
o
deplo
y
our services in some markets with less spectrum. Alternativel
y
, as in the United States, we could find that
n
ew technologies and subscriber usage patterns require us to have more spectrum than our current minimu
m
a
v
a
il
a
bl
e
i
n our mar
k
ets
.
Th
e Internat
i
ona
l
Te
l
ecommun
i
cat
i
ons Un
i
on recent
ly
approve
d
t
h
e tec
h
n
i
ca
l
requ
i
rements
f
or 4G tec
h
no
l
o
gy
and has recommended that 4G technolo
g
ies need at least 40 MHz of spectrum, and preferabl
y
up to 100 MHz of
s
pectrum in each market, regardless of the frequency used, in order to provide sufficient channel width to enable th
e
d
ata t
h
roug
h
put t
h
at 4G mo
bil
e
b
roa
db
an
d
serv
i
ces w
ill d
eman
d
.We
b
e
li
eve t
h
at our current spectrum
h
o
ldi
ngs
i
n
m
ost of our planned markets in the United States and in most of our international markets satisf
y
these standards.
R
esearc
h
an
dD
eve
l
o
p
men
t
Our research and development efforts have focused on the desi
g
n of our network, enhancements to the
c
apabilities of our network and the evolution of our service offerin
g
s. A si
g
nificant portion of our research an
d
d
eve
l
opment e
ff
orts
i
nvo
l
ves wor
ki
ng w
i
t
h
t
h
e supp
li
ers o
f
our networ
ki
n
f
rastructure an
d
su
b
scr
ib
er equ
i
pment.
W
e are currentl
y
workin
g
with Intel, Motorola, Samsun
g
, Huawei Technolo
g
ies Co., Ltd, which we refer to a
s
Huawei, Cisco S
y
stems Inc., which we refer to as Cisco, and other vendors to further develop network component
s
an
d
su
b
scr
ib
er equ
i
pment
f
or our 4G mo
bil
e
b
roa
db
an
d
networ
k
s.
Our researc
h
an
dd
eve
l
opment
f
ocuses on t
h
ree
k
ey areas, w
hi
c
hi
nc
l
u
d
e tec
h
n
i
ca
l
requ
i
rement assessment,
n
etwor
k
an
d
per
f
ormance va
lid
at
i
on, an
di
nteropera
bili
t
y
test
i
n
g
, spann
i
n
g
access,
b
ac
kh
au
l
, “Core” (
i
.e., t
he
c
entral aggregation points for our network), devices/chipsets, and back office systems. We continue to work toward
i
mproving the performance and functionality of this technology and products through our ongoing research an
d
d
eve
l
opment act
i
v
i
t
i
es. Severa
l
evo
l
ut
i
onar
y
pro
d
ucts are current
ly i
nt
h
e ear
ly
sta
g
es o
fd
eve
l
opment w
i
t
h
RAN
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