Clearwire's name came up on numerous occasions over the course of Sprint's network strategy conference today, and for good reason: they share a WiMAX network that Sprint looks poised to replace with an LTE network of its own over time. To that end, Clearwire has just released a statement saying that "nothing about today's announcement" changes the fact that "Sprint remains dependent" on it for 4G service:

As the largest wholesaler of 4G capacity, with unmatched spectrum, Clearwire is uniquely positioned to offer capacity to Sprint, and other carriers, particularly in urban areas where demand is high and their 4G spectrum will be inadequate. Sprint remains dependent on Clearwire for 4G and nothing about today's announcement changes that. Even with their re-allocation of existing spectrum, it's obvious that their spectrum resources are insufficient to meet the long term demands of mobile data, but this is not unique to Sprint. Data capacity will clearly stress the capabilities of the low capacity 4G deployments of other carriers due to their spectrum constraints.

We are also working globally with other members of the Global TDD-LTE Initiative (GTI), including China Mobile, to develop a low-cost, highly scalable device ecosystem that will work across various LTE networks and frequencies. As demand for mobile data increases, Clearwire remains the only viable 4G wholesaler with an operating 4G network, substantial spectrum resources, and a global technology road map to serve this growing market.