Intel Invests in Clearwire Wireless Technologies

Chip maker Intel Corp. said it was making an investment in privately held telecommunications firm Clearwire Corp. to develop technologies for long-range wireless Internet access to be deployed about 2006.

The companies will be partners in a technology known as WiMax, which broadcasts Internet signals that can travel over the air as far as 30 miles. Intel will invest a “significant” but undisclosed amount from its $150-million fund set aside to develop wireless technologies, said Sean Maloney, who heads the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip maker’s Intel Communications Group.

Clearwire is the latest venture from billionaire Craig McCaw, who built the first nationwide U.S. cellular telephone company and sold it to AT&T; Corp. The Kirkland, Wash.-based start-up began offering broadband Internet access in Jacksonville, Fla., six weeks ago, and is working on connecting Alaskan villages north of the Arctic Circle.

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-- Terril Yue Jones