WiMAX service provider Clearwire yesterday confirmed it has secured an extra US$1.564 billion investment from most of its existing partners, a deal announced on the same day it posted a narrower quarterly loss of US$82.43 million. Clearwire’s majority shareholder (51 percent), Sprint Nextel, is to stump up US$1.176 billion, whilst other investors include Comcast (US$196 million), Time Warner Cable (US$103 million), Intel (US$50 million), Eagle River (US$20 million) and Bright House Networks (US$19 million). Notably absent is Google, who, along with the other backers, contributed to Clearwire’s original US$3.2 billion cash injection last year. The partners will get newly issued shares priced at US$7.33 each in exchange for the additional funding. In a statement, Clearwire said it will receive approximately US$1.057 billion in cash within five business days, US$440 million in cash will be funded at a closing targeted to be completed by the end of this year, and the remaining US$66 million will be completed during the first quarter of 2010.

Meanwhile the company has also revealed its third-quarter results, growing revenue 13 percent to US$68.8 million. Its net loss narrowed to US$82.43 million, from a loss of US$137.6 million in the same quarter a year ago. Total subscribers increased to approximately 555,000 at the end of the third quarter of 2009, up from approximately 469,000 a year ago. Subscriber count in the company’s 13 mobile WiMAX markets was approximately 173,000 at the end of September.  It added 49,000 new mobile WiMAX subscribers in the quarter. ARPU for the third quarter of 2009 across its entire customer base was US$39.71, a decrease of US$0.72 from the US$40.43 pro forma ARPU level from the prior year third quarter. Clearwire initially established itself as a wireless broadband provider a few years ago and is now attempting to move its subscriber base to mobile WiMAX technology. It said its full-year 2009 cash spend would be at the high end of its previously announced target range of US$1.5 billion to US$1.9 billion, but it kept to its plan to extend its network to cover 40 million people by the end of the year.