What's the appeal of WiMAX? The wireless technology could provide consumers with a new source of high-speed broadband services, threatening to displace digital subscriber lines (DSL), cable modems, and today's slower cellular and Wi-Fi services. For WiMAX operators, product suppliers, and software vendors, the technology represents a huge opportunity to shake up the telecom market -- one that Clearwire and NextWave are hoping investors will be quick to appreciate.

Strong Investor Appetite

But will investors snap up Clearwire and NextWave's offerings? The answer could differ by company, even though, at first glance, the two outfits appear to be very similar: Both are swimming in operating losses. (Appropriately, NextWave plans to trade under the symbol WAVE) And both hope eventually to make their money, at least in part, from building out WiMAX networks.

The two companies also expect to go public in early 2007, capitalizing on a revival of the tech initial public offering market, the strongest it's been since year 2000, says IPO expert Tom Taulli. On Sept. 21, wireless broadband gear maker Riverbed Technology priced above its expected range, and the company's shares have rallied 210% since, to $30.19, indicating strong investor appetite for wireless broadband-related stocks.

Yet Clearwire's shares, expected to be listed under symbol CLWR, might receive a different reception, and attract very different investors, than NextWave. One reason: Clearwire has A-list investors: chipmaker Intel and cell phone manufacturer Motorola. It also has legendary telecom executive Craig McCaw at the helm. "There's a natural comfort that comes with the fact that Intel and Motorola are interested, and McCaw runs it," says Michael Mahoney, managing director at EGM Capital hedge funds in San Francisco. Years ago, McCaw cobbled together the U.S.'s first nationwide cellular empire, which he sold to old AT&T for $11.5 billion in 1994.

Spectrum Speculators?