Sprint Nextel, the phone company that lost more than a million customers last year, may get as much as $1.5 billion from cable companies to build a new high-speed wireless network, people familiar with the talks said.
Comcast and Time Warner are in negotiations to fund a Sprint venture that would use a new technology called WiMax that is five times faster than today’s wireless networks, according to two people with knowledge of the talks.
WiMax provides Web access for mobile phones and laptops across entire cities, instead of limiting them to patches served by wireless fidelity technology. Sprint chief executive Dan Hesse is counting on WiMax to give him an edge on AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, providing download speeds his rivals won’t be able to match for at least two years.
Sprint and its partner in the WiMax venture, Clearwire, may get as much as $1 billion from Comcast and $500 million from Time Warner Cable, said the sources, who asked to remain anonymous because the talks are private.
Sprint on Feb. 28 reported a $29.5 billion fourth-quarter loss. Bloomberg News
