May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Sprint Nextel Corp., the phone company that lost more than a million customers last year, is close to announcing a $12 billion venture with Clearwire Corp. to build a new high-speed wireless network, the Wall Street Journal said.

Sprint will combine its wireless broadband business with Craig McCaw's Clearwire, the Journal reported today, citing people familiar with the talks. Comcast Corp., Intel Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Google Inc. will provide financing, the Journal said.

WiMax provides Internet access for mobile phones and laptops across entire cities, instead of limiting them to patches served by wireless-fidelity technology. Separating the WiMax unit may remove a $2 billion annual drain on Sprint's cash flow, Credit Suisse analyst Christopher Larsen said in March.

People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg in March that Sprint and Clearwire may get as much as $1 billion from Comcast and $500 million from Time Warner Cable. The people said then that Intel Corp., Google Inc. and cable provider Bright House Networks were examining whether to invest.

Today, the Journal said the venture will get $1.05 billion from Comcast, $1 billion from Intel, $550 million from Time Warner Cable, $500 million for Google and $100 million from Bright House.

Sprint spokesman James Fisher and Intel spokeswoman Kari Aakre declined to comment. Susan Johnston of Clearwire didn't immediately return a telephone message.

Sprint Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse, who replaced Gary Forsee in December, said in February that the Overland Park, Kansas-based carrier had renewed talks with Clearwire and was exploring ``potential investment alternatives.'' Kirkland, Washington-based Clearwire and Sprint had scrapped an agreement to work together in November.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cesca Antonelli in Washington at fantonelli@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 6, 2008 17:04 EDT