Wireless watch: LightSquared CEO sees broadband as a utility; Clearwire, Best Buy ready MVNO deal

Cox Communications may be the only MSO with an active wireless initiative, but that doesn't mean the no-wires market is quiet as far as how it affects the rest of the cable industry. Far from it. LightSquared is moving fast on what it hopes will be a wholesale hybrid satellite/wireless service and Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR) has put its own wholesale deal with Best Buy back on track.

LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja, in a Q&A with the Washington Post, not only hyped his company's plans but suggested that the broadband wireless pipe is "like a utility and anyone can lease it." This, according to some speculation, is exactly what the ever-reticent cable industry will do once LightSquared is up and running.

Certainly, cable's support of its own wireless play--Clearwire--has been less than ardent. That, though, doesn't mean that the 4G WiMAX provider is going away; far from it, according to the latest rumblings that Clearwire expects electronics retail giant Best Buy to launch a previously announced private-label 4G wireless MVNO service in the near future.

For more:
- Washington Post has this story
- Twice.com has this story

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