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Wireless operator Clearwire's fourth-quarter results were fairly disappointing, but at least its longer term prospects are starting to brighten.

The company, which supplies Sprint Nextel with 4G WiMax wireless service, reported a fourth-quarter loss of $236.8 million, or 81 cents a share, compared with a year-ago loss of $128 million, or 79 cents a share.

Revenue, however, more than doubled to $361.9 million as the company started picking itself up off the mat.

Wall Street analysts were looking for Clearwire to lose 35 cents a share and post revenue of $356.7 million. The company released its revenue and customer growth figures early. … Read more

Lemnis Lighting is taking a foot-in-the-door approach to LED lightbulbs.

The startup company today announced a new line of bulbs, priced at $4.95 and $6.95, respectively, aimed at getting consumers to try out LEDs for general lighting. The bulbs, though, have some limitations.

The Pharox Blu line comes in 200-lumen and 350-lumen versions, both of which give off less light a 40-watt incandescent bulb's 450 lumens. That means that the bulbs, which consume less than 5 watts and 8 watts, respectively, won't give off enough light for many uses, such as lighting a whole room.

The … Read more

LightSquared suffered a possibly fatal blow today when the FCC said it would indefinitely suspend the company's effort to build a national wireless broadband network using satellite spectrum.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a Department of Commerce agency tasked with overseeing military and government spectrum use, determined that LightSquared's interference with other devices, including GPS devices, was unavoidable.

"Based on NTIA's independent evaluation of the testing and analysis performed over the last several months, we conclude that LightSquared's proposed mobile broadband network will impact GPS services and that there is no practical way to … Read more

A growing number of Congressional leaders and state officials are urging the Federal Communications Commission to move forward with its review of LightSquared, the controversial startup that plans to build a national wireless broadband network using satellite spectrum.

Last week, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) sent a letter to FCC chairman Julius Genachowski in support of the company and its plans.

"I write to express concern about delays in the approval process involving LightSquared's proposed 4G-LTE wireless broadband network," Conyers wrote in a letter sent last week. "I strongly urge the Commission to move with urgency to … Read more

To build a better light fixture, startup Soraa started right at the foundation with a different kind of LED chip inside.

The Fremont, Calif.-based company tomorrow will come out of stealth mode and launch its first product, a spotlight which uses efficient LEDs (light emitting diodes). The MR 16 bulb replaces a 50-watt halogen and uses 12.5 watts and it offers a better beam and light quality, said Soraa CEO Eric Kim.

The bulb from Soraa, which has raised more than $100 million in venture capital, is the first in a planned line of LEDs for general lighting … Read more

LightSquared, the hedge fund-backed company planning to build a nationwide wireless broadband network to compete with AT&T and Verizon Wireless, is asking the Federal Communications Commission to set stricter technical rules for GPS devices.

Today, the company, which has invested billions of dollars to build a wireless broadband network that will blanket the U.S., filed a document with the FCC asking the agency to begin a rule-making process that will enforce strict standards on GPS devices, so that these devices will not inadvertently receive signals that are coming from adjacent spectrum bands.

For more than a year, … Read more

Cree today introduced an LED lighting component that will bring prices down significantly, but the company has come to realize that only cutting prices won't make LED lighting mainstream.

The company said its latest XT-E White LED delivers an industry-best 162 lumens per watt at room temperature. Boosting the price performance of LEDs results in a cost reduction of about 25 percent at the retail level in a year or two, said product marketing manager Paul Scheidt.

That's significant given that LED lighting has a higher upfront cost than more established products, but Scheidt said the industry's … Read more

Sprint Nextel said it will give LightSquared an additional six weeks to get approval to build its nationwide 4G LTE wireless network from the Federal Communications Commission or it will terminate its agreement with the company, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

A Sprint spokesman told Dow Jones that the company had given LightSquared until mid-March to resolve concerns that its network interferes with GPS receivers. Sprint had already given LightSquared a 30-day extension to get FCC approval at the end of 2011.

A LightSquared representative confirmed that an extension had been granted. And he reiterated LightSquared's commitment to completing … Read more

AT&T appears to be laying groundwork for a potential deal with Dish Network to get its hands on the satellite provider's newly acquired wireless spectrum.

Last week, AT&T flexed some muscle with the federal government in an attempt to make Dish's wireless spectrum--which it acquired last year for $2.8 billion via deals with two failed wireless companies, DBSD North America and TerreStar Networks--harder for Dish to use and easier for some other company to acquire.

Specifically, AT&T asked the FCC not to place any "restrictions on the transfer and/… Read more