US-based WiMAX service provider Clearwire says it will launch a dual-mode smartphone in the second half of this year, according to a Financial Times (FT) report. The FT article cites Clearwire’s CEO Bill Morrow as stating that the company is talking to a number of manufacturers. While Morrow did not reveal which companies are likely to launch WiMAX handsets, he noted that there is “a natural affinity” between Google’s Android operating system and Clearwire’s all IP-based WiMAX network. The device will also support voice calls over Sprint Nextel’s existing voice network (Sprint holds a 56.5 percent stake in Clearwire). “Voice is still very important… we will be in the smartphone business and will launch devices this year,” Morrow told the FT.

Clearwire’s current WiMAX offering is data-focused and uses devices such as dongles and datacards to enable users to access the service. A smartphone supporting voice services is seen as crucial to WiMAX’s hopes of gaining an edge over rival LTE technology (which has just started to be commercially deployed but has a question mark over the best way to support voice services via the technology). Nokia – the world’s largest handset vendor – is unlikely to manufacture a WiMAX smartphone given its exit from the sector, leaving names such as HTC in the frame.