WiMAX rumor of the day is that Sprint has revived negotiations with Clearwire in an attempt to found a partner agreement allowing customers to roam on both networks and, as a result, halve the capacity building each would have to do.  In a new twist to the talks, however, Sprint’s Xohm service – currently undergoing small-scale trials in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington D.C. – would be separated from the operator and incorporated into Clearwire, with funding for the network sourced from Intel, Google and Best Buy, among others.

Such a deal could potentially refresh the market for WiMAX and restore interest from investors, manufacturing partners and users alike.  Until now, Sprint’s apparent uncertainty about continued investment in the network – which is estimated to require $5bn in total – had prompted criticism of the operator; offsetting development costs via other businesses could, together with the fact that WiMAX mobile broadband is expected to be cheaper for customers than the 3G equivalent, be a convincing argument that it is financially viable.

[via Electronista]