Clearwire Pacts With Free-Broadband Startup FreedomPop
With the FCC blocking LightSquared's terrestrial network plans, FreedomPop -- a startup that promises to launch free broadband access to U.S. consumers this year -- has entered into a wholesale agreement for 4G wireless services with Clearwire.
FreedomPop is backed by Skype and Joost co-founder Niklas Zennström. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed, except that FreedomPop will pay wholesale rates for access to Clearwire's 4G network.
In December, FreedomPop announced an agreement with LightSquared , which had been planning to build out a nationwide satellite/LTE wireless network. On Tuesday, the FCC said it would revoke its conditional approval of LightSquared's planned terrestrial 4G cellular network.
FreedomPop expects to launch service in the second half of 2012. The startup previously has described its business model as similar to that of Dropbox, the online storage service. Dropbox offers up to 2 Gigabytes for free, and sells access to additional storage for a monthly fee in different tiers.