US WiMAX operator Clearwire looks set to switch on a mobile WiMAX network in the US city of Portland early next year, its first since its high-profile asset merger with Sprint Nextel was completed at the end of November. A media invite states that “Clearwire and Intel… will host a press conference on January 6, 2009, in Portland, Oregon, introducing the city to Clear and the ‘Let’s be Clear’ campaign promoting the region’s first 4G mobile WiMAX network for next-generation communications services.”

Clearwire already offers a ‘pre-WiMAX’ broadband wireless connection to 50 markets in the US, and will begin switching those markets to WiMAX next year. In September, Sprint launched its WiMAX network – branded as ‘Xohm’ – in Baltimore, though this brand will eventually be phased out and replaced by Clearwire’s own brand, ‘Clear,’ following completion of the Sprint/Clearwire WiMAX asset merger. The new venture has received a US$3.2 billion cash investment from Comcast, Intel, Time Warner Cable, Google and Bright House Networks and aims to rollout mobile WiMAX services across the US in the 2.5GHz spectrum band.