Clearwire's loss narrows, shares fall

Wireless service provider Clearwire Corp (CLWR.O) posted a slightly narrower quarterly loss on Tuesday, but its revenue missed Wall Street estimates, sending its shares down almost 7 percent.

Analysts said subscriber growth was weaker than expected and that some investors had been hoping Clearwire, which is 51 percent owned by Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N), would announce new funding arrangements along with its results.

"The big question revolves around the potential market opportunity and business case for the service," said Soleil Nelson Alpha Research analyst Michael Nelson, who added that Clearwire's 12,000 customer additions were less than half the 25,000 net additions he had expected for the quarter.

The company, which is building a network based on a high-speed wireless technology known as WiMax, did not break out how many customers it had signed up to recently launched markets such as Atlanta and Las Vegas.

Clearwire was progressing in its search for $2 billion to $2.3 billion new financing it needs to fund its plan to expand its WiMax network to cover a population of 120 million people by the end of 2010, Chief Executive William Morrow said.

"We really want to have this buttoned down by the end of this year," Morrow told Reuters. He listed options such as vendor financing, raising new debt, a public equity offering and a strategic investment.

Morrow also said that the company would apply for funding from the U.S. government's broadband stimulus project, but noted that this money, if received, would have to be used for markets outside of its current expansion plan.

The company said its loss narrowed to $73.4 million, or 38 cents a share, from a loss of $74.6 million, or 40 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.

Excluding items, its loss would have been 35 cents per share, compared with analysts' average expectation for a loss of 39 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates. link.....