Clearwire to Spend at Least $1.5B in Cash in 2009

Clearwire (CLWR) isn’t the easiest company to analyze; still in a development stage, and now combined with the old Sprint Xohm business, trying to draw conclusions from the WiMax-based wireless carrier’s financial results is challenging, to say the least. But here’s what I can tell you about the company’s Q4 results, which were reported after the close:

• Pro forma revenues were $59.7 million, a bit below the Street consensus at $60 million.
• The company posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of $157.3 million.
• CLWR had 5,000 net subscriber adds in the quarter, and now has 475,000 total.
• ARPU rose to $39.70 a month, from $36.09.
• Churn bumped up to 2.8 percent, from 2.4 percent a year ago.
• But costs per gross add fell to $468, from $550.
• Clearwire now covers territory with 18.2 million people, up from 16.3 million a year ago.
• The company has $3.1 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.

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