12:30 PM -- AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T)'s total planned capital spend for 2008 will be $17 billion to $18 billion, with much of that going on 3G expansion. (See AT&T Boosts 3G, Adds 3,000 Jobs.)

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is planning to spend "a little over $17 billion," according to CTO Dick Lynch. Some of that money will go toward a new Long-Term Evolution wireless broadband network. (See MWC 2009: Verizon Picks LTE Vendors.)

Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR), meanwhile, is expecting to spend between $1.5 billion and $1.9 billion on mobile WiMax network buildout in 2009. (See Clearwire Preps $1.5B Deployment in '09.)

Granted, Clearwire is purely focusing on a single network technology rather than deploying both wired and wireless technologies. Nonetheless, the difference is pretty striking.

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung