US : Clearwire Corporation, the world’s largest WiMAX-class service provider, today marked a major milestone with the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) final approval of the first WiMAX-class laptop card that will connect to the Clearwire network.   Following the FCC approval, the new wireless broadband product is on target to be available in Clearwire markets during the second half of this year.

“The FCC’s approval of our laptop card is a significant milestone in bringing to market a ‘true broadband’ wireless service with a device that facilitates even greater portability than our existing modem permits,” said Perry Satterlee, Clearwire president and chief operating officer.  “We expect the new laptop card to broaden our potential customer base with more opportunities for customers to access and experience our fast, simple, portable, reliable and affordable wireless broadband services.”

“Motorola’s Expedience® wireless access system delivers high speed, nomadic broadband access for Clearwire’s customers, and our new laptop card will give them even more convenience as they connect to the information, entertainment and people that are important to them,” said Fred Wright, senior vice president, Motorola Networks & Enterprise.  

The new Clearwire laptop card is part of Motorola’s wi4 Expedience solutions.  The high performance, wireless access modem is a true non-line-of-sight device, requiring only a simple driver to be added to the customer’s computer.  The product fits into a standard Type II laptop card slot on portable computing devices and is compatible with Microsoft Windows Vista and XP operating systems.

About Clearwire
Clearwire, founded in October 2003 by Craig O. McCaw, is a provider of reliable, wireless high-speed Internet service. Headquartered in Kirkland, Wash., the company launched its first market in August 2004 and now offers service in 37 metro markets, covering approximately 8.9 million people in more than 350 municipalities in Alaska, California, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin in the United States, as well as 1.2 million people in Ireland, Belgium and Denmark (under the Clearwire name through Danske Telecom).