More decisions on when to roll out planned commercial services in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other locations will come after the first meeting of the board, which hasn't been fully named, Wolff said. But Clearwire plans to convert most of its existing pre-WiMax networks, in 46 markets, to standard mobile WiMax next year.

A major problem for the fledgling network is that though it is mobile, so far it's available only in one metropolitan area. To help make its service viable for customers who frequently travel, Clearwire can offer combination 4G and 3G services under its own name, on Sprint's network, using dual-mode devices, Wolff said. He said more information on those services will come early next year.

Clearwire expects any WiMax-certified product to work on its network and said more than 80 device vendors are offering or developing WiMax products. Among the devices offered for the Clear service will be ones based on the Android platform from Google, Wolff said. Google also will be a partner providing content and applications to users of the service.

The company's cable partners all are expected to become wholesale customers reselling WiMax under their own names in bundles for their subscribers, he said. There are about 100 million consumers in the homes served by those cable operators now, Clearwire said.

Clearwire's first priorities will be to establish common infrastructure and a common core for Sprint's and Clearwire's networks, as well as a common back-office infrastructure for functions such as billing. Subscribers in the company's first commercial market, Baltimore, will see no interruption or change in their service, the company said.