Sprint's Hesse promises WiMax; no JV mention

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N), Chief Executive Dan Hesse promised on Tuesday to go ahead with plans to build a high-speed wireless network based on WiMax, but made no mention of any plans for a joint venture backed by cable companies in his keynote address at an industry convention.

Recent reports speculated that Hesse could use the keynote to announce a venture with Clearwire Corp (CLWR.O) that combines their WiMax assets, with funding from Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O), Time Warner Cable Inc (TWC.N), Intel Corp (INTC.O) and Google Inc (GOOG.O).

Sprint and Clearwire have said they were in talks with each other on roaming agreements. Both have said separately they were looking for outside funding for WiMax.

"We expect to have at least a two year time to market advantage" over rival carriers, said Hesse, referring to Sprint's previously announced plans to roll-out WiMax in three months. He spoke at the CTIA annual U.S. wireless show here.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)