Cricket and Clearwire Announce Long-Term Wholesale 4G LTE Agreement

SAN DIEGO and BELLEVUE, Wash., March 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Cricket Communications, Inc., a leading provider of innovative and value-driven wireless services, and Clearwire Corp (NADSAQ: CLWR) today announced that they have entered into a five-year wholesale agreement. With the agreement, Cricket will become the second operator to have signed on to leverage Clearwire's forthcoming LTE Advanced-ready network, which will provide capacity off-load services to supplement Cricket's own LTE network.  Cricket currently plans to deploy LTE across approximately two-thirds of its current network footprint over the next two to three years and to cover up to approximately 25 million POPs with LTE network technology in 2012.

"The high-speed 4G LTE networks we are deploying will complement our robust 3G network and allow us to continue innovating value for our Cricket customers," said Doug Hutcheson, President and CEO of Leap Wireless International, Inc., Cricket's parent company.  "We believe this agreement with Clearwire provides us with an attractive option to supplement our own LTE build-out strategy and gives us the flexibility to access additional 4G capacity where needed as data-centric devices continue to become more popular."

"This long-term partnership with Cricket is a key step forward in the development of Clearwire's wholesale LTE business model," said Erik Prusch, President and CEO of Clearwire. "Not all LTE networks are created equally. We have always believed that our unmatched spectrum portfolio offers a compelling resource that can and will enable wireless operators to thrive in the 4G marketplace of the future. We are very pleased to provide Cricket with additional mobile broadband resources to supplement their own LTE build and we plan to continue to actively seek new opportunities to serve the needs of other 4G providers."

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

About Cricket

Cricket is the pioneer and leader in delivering innovative value-rich prepaid wireless services with no long-term contracts serving more than 5.9 million customers. Cricket offers wireless voice and mobile data services over the latest, high-quality, all-digital 4G (LTE) and 3G CDMA wireless networks. In 2011, Cricket launched its award-winning Muve Music® product, the first music service designed for a wireless phone that now has more than 500,000 customers. Cricket's innovative products and services are available at Cricket branded retail stores, dealers, national retailers and at www.mycricket.com.  For more information about Cricket, please visit www.mycricket.com.

About Clearwire

Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ:CLWR), through its operating subsidiaries, is a leading provider of 4G wireless broadband services covering more than 130 million people in the U.S. The company holds the deepest portfolio of wireless spectrum available for data services in the U.S.  Clearwire serves retail customers through its own CLEAR® brand as well as through wholesale relationships with some of the leading companies in the retail, technology, and telecommunications industries, including Sprint. The company plans to launch a next-generation 4G LTE Advanced-ready network to address the capacity needs of the market, working closely with the Global TDD-LTE Initiative and China Mobile. Clearwire is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash. Additional information is available at http://www.clearwire.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements which are based on management's current expectations and beliefs, as well as on a number of assumptions concerning future events made with information that is currently available. Forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, expectations regarding the companies' respective network development and market launch plans and the provision of wholesale roaming services under the agreement being entered into.  The words "will," "would," "may," "should," "estimate," "project," "forecast," "intend," "expect," "believe," "target," "designed," "plan" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward- looking statements, which are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from such statements.  For a more detailed description of the factors that could cause such differences, please refer to the filings made by Clearwire and Cricket's parent company, Leap Wireless International, Inc., with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the information under the heading "Risk Factors" in the parties' respective Annual Reports on Form 10-K. The parties assume no obligation to update or supplement such forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Cricket Communications; Clearwire Corporation