While Sprint would own the majority of the venture, the operation would be steered by McCaw, who would serve as chairman, and Clearwire Chief Executive Ben Wolff, who would take the same position at the venture, they said.
That structure is designed to make sure the venture can compete against all comers, including any offerings from Sprint, the people briefed on the plans said.
Details on how and when the technology would be brought to the marketplace weren't clear, but analysts said they presumed that the cable companies were interested because they would get the right to sell the high-speed wireless Internet access in a package with pay TV, cellphone and home phone service.
That so-called quadruple play would help them compete with phone companies that also are rolling out pay-TV service. The cable firms also may push video content packages for souped-up phones or a new generation of devices that are somewhere between phones and laptops, Atkin said.
"This ultra-fast wireless data and Internet service for cellphones and laptops and wireless devices makes enormous sense," said independent telecom analyst Jeff Kagan.
Intel makes processors that handle WiMax communication.
Google's involvement, meanwhile, hinged on the venture agreeing to let any device and any service use the network when it emerged, according to a person familiar with the terms of its investment.
That follows Google's success in getting federal regulators to declare another chunk of the high-speed airwave spectrum open to any form of consumer use.
Both actions result from Google's opposition to the traditional wireless model, in which carriers dictate what phones and what services are permitted to interact over their networks.
Google wants to make sure consumers can access Google's search, mail and other services while on the go. It is also developing an operating system for mobile phones that has attracted wide interest from the carriers.
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joseph.menn@latimes.com
