US Wimax operator Clearwire reported first-quarter revenues up 36 percent from a year earlier to USD 322.6 million, led by growth at its wholesale customers. Of the 586,000 new subscribers added in Q1, 576,000 were with wholesale partners. Clearwire ended March with a total 11.0 million subscribers, up 80 percent a year earlier. The 1.3 million retail subscribers generated ARPU of USD 46.83, little changed from a year ago. The operator's adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed to USD 38.2 million in the quarter, from USD 210.3 million a year ago. The group also posted its first positive operating cash flow of USD 65.7 million, thanks to payments from Sprint for their new wholesale agreement started this year. The net loss came in at USD 182.8 million or USD 0.40 per share, versus USD 227 million or USD 0.93 per share a year ago. At the end of the quarter, Clearwire's network covered 134 million people, little changed from three months earlier as the operator spent only USD 23 million on capex in the period. Clearwire finished March with USD 1.4 billion in cash remaining. Clearwire also announced that New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle will be among the 31 cities where the company will launch its TDD-LTE network during the first half of 2013. The network will target high-demand "hot zones" in major urban centres where demand for mobile broadband access is high.
