Google buys into WiMAX

So how is this? Google herds Verizon into buying and opening up the 700MHz band and then finds itself with some cash to spend on plan B … to wit … WiMax in the form of Sprint and Clearwire which are merging and teaming up with a cast of dozens:

Sprint and Clearwire merge next-gen wireless businesses, goes by Clearwire - Engadget

the new outfit will be called Clearwire, even though Sprint will hold around 51-percent of the firm, while existing Clearwire shareholders will own 27-percent and the new investors will hold 22-percent. New investors? Ah yes, Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks will collectively invest $3.2 billion in the new company, but that figure is “based on a target price of $20 a share of Clearwire’s common stock,

But from a previous post, I think we can see why this part of the wireless strategy was plan B all along …

Sprint, Clearwire set to announce $12B WiMAX deal with Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Intel, and Google? - Engadget

it’s a pretty big boost for WiMAX, which was looking pretty sickly lately. Still, asking consumers to have faith in Sprint and Comcast and Time Warner Cable is pretty ballsy — between the three of them, they’ve probably burned everyone in America.