Recovery Act: Clearwire Applies for Stimulus Funds

Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR) confirmed to Unstrung Tuesday afternoon that it has applied for some "modest grants" from the $4 billion broadband stimulus fund in the U.S. government's Recovery Act.

"Clearwire has submitted for a couple of modest grants under the broadband stimulus program," company spokeswoman Susan Johnston says.

"These projects would have no significant impact on our funding or our existing build-out plans, but demonstrate our support of the government’s initiative to bring broadband to underserved areas. Additional details will be available once the filings are made public."

Clearwire was one of the operators that was undecided about applying for stimulus money. The company said in July it would review the process. Many larger carriers decided not to apply for money because under the terms of the Act they would have to share network connectivity. (See Clearwire 'Undecided' on Stimulus Bid.)

Clearwire already has fixed wireless networks in a number of smaller cities and towns in the U.S. It also has nationwide 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings and intends to have a mobile Wimax network that will cover up to 120 million users by the end of 2010. (See Clearwire Promises Growth Spurt.) The Kirkland, Wash.-based operator's new CEO, Bill Morrow, said yesterday that it will need more funding to complete these ambitious deployment plans. As Johnston's statement makes clear, however, stimulus money will have "no significant impact" on its funding or WiMax plans -- it will still want to find more money from other sources. (See Clearwire 'Confident' on Funding.) — Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung