Sprint to Divest WiMAX?

Acting CEO at Sprint Nextel, Paul Saleh, this week confirmed that Sprint is mulling a change for its WiMAX operations.

Speaking at an investor conference for USB, he said that while Sprint remains committed to WiMAX, the company is re-evaluating its 2008 deployment schedule, and he said it may spin off its WiMAX business as a separate investor-funded company, saying Sprint has assigned a team to study the possibility.

That course of action is one that analysts have said would satisfy Wall Street, giving more risk-accommodating investors an option in the WiMAX space, while protecting the core operations of the parent company and making risk-averse investors more comfortable with their stakes in Sprint.

Sprint’s plans for WiMAX have been the subject of speculation ever since CEO Gary Forsee resigned and its deal with Clearwire Corp. to jointly build and operate a national WiMAX network fell through. The company had said that more details as to its WiMAX strategy will be forthcoming in the first quarter.