It will be interesting to listen in on -- or at least read the transcript of -- Clearwire's
True to form, Clearwire's future again seems to be another cliffhanger. The 10 analysts that BusinessWeek polled estimated Clearwire will once again report a losing quarter, this time down by $0.39 a share, compared to a negative $0.37 for the previous quarter, with revenue expected to be down almost 15.5%.
The good news for Clearwire as the first quarter of 2012 began was that Sprint Nextel
Drats!
But the fourth quarter of 2011 had ended with another train full of bad news bearing down on Clearwire. Verizon's
Curses! Losing two clients meant Clearwire was even more dependent on the always difficult-to-read stratagems of Sprint.
The exciting (for some) climax of Q1
Now, for the dramatic closing scene of this quarter: Verizon gave notice earlier this month that it plans to auction off chunks of its 700 MHz spectrum holdings. Those frequencies, though less valuable to Verizon for its own LTE network, are quite attractive to the other mobile carriers, both large and small. AT&T
But what could really put a wrench in Clearwire's works is if its best-friend-forever Sprint feels it would be better off investing in some of that Verizon spectrum rather than continuing to keep Clearwire afloat.
My advice here is to buy some popcorn and hold on to your seats while hearing what Clearwire's leadership has to say.
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