Clearwire has cash for 12 months. AT&T, Verizon will try to delay regulatory approval.

With the Sprint / Clearwire WiMax merger still pending approval, Clearwire has announced they have 12 months operating cash on hand. Public companies’ full disclosure requirements gives the anti competitive, predatory telcos a time line to delay approval of the merger and potentially kill Clearwire. Such ambulance chasing gamesmanship is not new for the telcos. They’ve used this tactic to crush competition repeatedly, using the very deep pockets only a monopoly can provide.

Clearwire has already said it will require an additional $2 billion to $2.3 billion to roll out a nationwide mobile WiMax network through 2010 and beyond, although some analysts have questioned that total. (See Can Clearwire Do It? and CLWR: Where It’s at With WiMax.)

Clearwire’s SEC filing notes that it expects “to require substantial additional capital in the long-term to fund our business, including further operating losses, network expansion plans and spectrum acquisitions.”

Of course, there’s the question of how the company will raise that extra money in trying economic times.

“We may not be able to secure adequate additional financing when needed on acceptable terms or at all,” the operator writes. Clearwire is considering the possibility of additional public or private offerings and “will likely seek significant additional debt financing, in the short-term and the long-term.” The company already has $1.25 billion under a senior term loan facility in 2007. (Unstrung)

A national open wireless network will break a big hole in the telcos walled garden. I strongly encourage our readers  contact their elected representatives to ask that BellZilla not be allowed to crush a worthy competitor by lawyering regulators.