As investors were looking forward to seeing the WiMax technology expand, Clearwire Corp. had some bad news for them, as they requested an additional $2 billion in funding. Whether they will have to delay the project or not, that still remains to be seen.

 

Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff acknowledged to Bloomberg: It’s clear that capital markets are closed for either borrowers or companies that are trying to raise capital, regardless of what kind of company it is. We’ve seen challenges across the board.

 

In the worst case scenario, a delay would put Clearwire and its investors behind mobile carriers, who have plans of their own  with the Long Term Evolution format, which is said to be delivered as early as next year.

 

Intel, one of Clearwire’s investors, seemed particularly unhappy with the additional funding request. Senior Intel executive Sean Maloney said during a conference call with the press that Clearwire has been allocated enough financial support to continue with the WiMax network expansion plan.

 

Furthermore, he suggested that while many phone carriers are looking forward to witnessing the Long Term Evolution technology being deployed, they should instead be looking forward to seeing WiMax expanding.

 

WiMax is real and it’s here today, Maloney said as quoted by The Wall Street Journal, also suggesting that it will take several more years for carriers to make an upgrade to the Long Term Evolution, which means WiMax has even more time to expand.

 

 WiMax can provide high-speed Internet connections for laptops and cell phones, several times faster than the 3G network. The plan is for WiMax to cover wide areas of the United States while providing the next generation of high-speed Internet access for cell phone users.