14 DAY TRIAL // According to the latest news, Clearwire's WiMax services are already available for purchase for those who live in Las Vegas, even though the company plans to officially launch them only during the summer. Clearwire already confirmed the fact that it started selling its services in the area, while also announcing that the actual launch would take place later during the following months.
“In advance of our full commercial launch of Las Vegas scheduled for this summer, we are now selling Clear service as part of our operational readiness activities,” Clearwire spokeswoman Jennifer Morgan says. “Store openings, advertising, and other market activities will be a part of our full commercial launch, but residents of Las Vegas can now go to Clear.com and order services.”
According to some reports on the Internet, the fact that the Kirkland, Wash.-based mobile broadband operator has had only a soft launch of its services in Las Vegas resembles a lot the move it made back in May when it started deploying its “Clear” service in Atlanta. It seems that this launch covers the third major market in which Clearwire makes its own services available, while the Sprint Nextel's XOHM-branded Baltimore network should also become a part of Clear during the ongoing year.
The Clear brand is expected to cover a number of nine commercial mobile WiMax markets during 2009, while five of them should be new markets, including Chicago, Philadelphia, and Dallas/Ft. Worth. In addition, major Clearwire fixed-wireless markets should be converted to mobile WiMax, and the process will include Seattle, Honolulu, and Charlotte, N.C.
For the time being, there are no details regarding the vendors that Clearwire will use for the rollouts in Las Vegas, though there are some rumors pointing towards Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., yet it seems that Clearwire refrained from commenting on the vendor choice it has made.