Clear WiMAX launches in 10 new markets, adds new cities to plans

Clear 4G WiMAX has come to ten more cities, just as Clearwire promised in the beginning of August.

Well, it's really like two cities and sporadic chunks of the biggest state in the contiguous United States. Bellingham, Washington and Boise, Idaho were the standalone cities that got switched on today, and the Texas cities launched today were Abilene, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Waco and Wichita Falls.

These new markets join Portland, Oregon, Baltimore, Maryland, and Atlanta Georgia, and Las Vegas, Nevada in Clearwire's coverage roster, and brings the company to 14 markets in total. Next year, the goal is to have coverage in as many as 80 U.S. markets, including Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Seattle, and Washington D.C.

Also Clearwire today announced that it has applied for "a modest amount" of broadband stimulus money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to bring Clear 4G WiMAX to underserved areas not on its initial roadmap: Detroit, Puerto Rico and five additional states which it did not name today. The stimulus-related plans are completely separate from the regular WiMAX buildout.