Wireless backhaul provider FiberTower Corp. said it received its second early termination notice from Clearwire Corp. to discontinue wireless backhaul services effective April 30, 2011. The termination represents approximately $434,000 in monthly service revenue, though FiberTower noted that the early termination fee for the discontinued service would be approximately $1.9 million payable immediately.
FiberTower noted that despite the termination, Clearwire is maintaining services accounting for approximately $80,000 in monthly revenues, or about 16 percent of the total service revenue that had been billed to Clearwire on a monthly basis.
FiberTower added that it had previously adjusted its 2011 operating and capital plans in anticipation of the event and that it believes “it has sufficient liquidity to support its business through 2011 and remains focused on prudent management of its cash balance and capital outlays, and continues to explore alternatives to position the company to participate on a larger scale in the growth of wireless backhaul.”
No further details were available from either Clearwire or FiberTower about how Clearwire will be able to replace services, but it is at least possible that Clearwire’s new infrastructure sharing deal with Sprint has something to do with the changes.