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Cricket looks to enhance LTE rollout plan, strikes five-year deal with Clearwire

It looks as if the Big G's plan to offload its Clearwire stake didn't stop Cricket from striking a deal with the Sprint-born network. The five-year agreement allows the underdog wireless carrier to use Clearwire's LTE Advanced-ready waves to aid with its own rollout, which is expected to be fleshing out over the next "two to three years." Similar to that LightsSquared pact from last year, mum's the word on how much cash was involved in the signing. That said, chances are all you care about is how speedy the 4G browsing will be (and how much you can use before getting throttled).

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Cricket and Clearwire Announce Long-Term Wholesale 4G LTE Agreement

Clearwire's LTE Advanced-Ready Network to Offer Capacity Resources for Cricket's 4G Network

Agreement Will Supplement LTE Coverage that Cricket is Deploying Across its Own Networks

SAN DIEGO and BELLEVUE, Wash., March 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Cricket Communications, Inc., a leading provider of innovative and value-driven wireless services, and Clearwire Corp (NADSAQ: CLWR) today announced that they have entered into a five-year wholesale agreement. With the agreement, Cricket will become the second operator to have signed on to leverage Clearwire's forthcoming LTE Advanced-ready network, which will provide capacity off-load services to supplement Cricket's own LTE network. Cricket currently plans to deploy LTE across approximately two-thirds of its current network footprint over the next two to three years and to cover up to approximately 25 million POPs with LTE network technology in 2012.

"The high-speed 4G LTE networks we are deploying will complement our robust 3G network and allow us to continue innovating value for our Cricket customers," said Doug Hutcheson, President and CEO of Leap Wireless International, Inc., Cricket's parent company. "We believe this agreement with Clearwire provides us with an attractive option to supplement our own LTE build-out strategy and gives us the flexibility to access additional 4G capacity where needed as data-centric devices continue to become more popular."

"This long-term partnership with Cricket is a key step forward in the development of Clearwire's wholesale LTE business model," said Erik Prusch, President and CEO of Clearwire. "Not all LTE networks are created equally. We have always believed that our unmatched spectrum portfolio offers a compelling resource that can and will enable wireless operators to thrive in the 4G marketplace of the future. We are very pleased to provide Cricket with additional mobile broadband resources to supplement their own LTE build and we plan to continue to actively seek new opportunities to serve the needs of other 4G providers."

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

About Cricket

Cricket is the pioneer and leader in delivering innovative value-rich prepaid wireless services with no long-term contracts serving more than 5.9 million customers. Cricket offers wireless voice and mobile data services over the latest, high-quality, all-digital 4G (LTE) and 3G CDMA wireless networks. In 2011, Cricket launched its award-winning Muve Music® product, the first music service designed for a wireless phone that now has more than 500,000 customers. Cricket's innovative products and services are available at Cricket branded retail stores, dealers, national retailers and at www.mycricket.com. For more information about Cricket, please visit www.mycricket.com.

About Clearwire

Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR), through its operating subsidiaries, is a leading provider of 4G wireless broadband services covering more than 130 million people in the U.S. The company holds the deepest portfolio of wireless spectrum available for data services in the U.S. Clearwire serves retail customers through its own CLEAR® brand as well as through wholesale relationships with some of the leading companies in the retail, technology, and telecommunications industries, including Sprint. The company plans to launch a next-generation 4G LTE Advanced-ready network to address the capacity needs of the market, working closely with the Global TDD-LTE Initiative and China Mobile. Clearwire is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash. Additional information is available at http://www.clearwire.com.