Craig McCaw is an entrepreneur and a pioneer in the wireless industry. In the 1960s, Craig’s family heavily invested in broadcasting companies including radio and cable TV where he and his brothers worked from the bottom up. After his father’s death, the family’s holdings were reduced to cover outstanding company debt. Craig took over the remaining cable system in Centralia, Washington. Turning the company around with aggressive acquisitions over the next decade, McCaw Cablevision became the 20th largest cable carrier in the U.S.
As the FCC began issuing licenses in the early 1980s for metropolitan cellular markets, Craig won all six of his FCC license hearings, using his cable companies to back the financing. After the FCC switched to a lottery system, he increased his interest in the burgeoning U.S. cellular markets by purchasing additional licenses from lottery winners.
In 1986, Craig and his brothers bought MCI, which substantially increased the company’s cellular and paging operations. In 1989, Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems and McCaw Communications formed a partnership called Cellular One Group to establish the trade name Cellular One as a national symbol for independent, or non-wire-line, cellular service. To achieve McCaw’s nationwide network, the company entered agreements with PacTel Corporation and then Vanguard Cellular Systems. Investing and believing in connectivity for everyone, Craig co-founded Teledesic in 1990 to provide internet access via satellite.
Among his many acquisitions in the mid-90s, Craig invested in Nextel (Sprint and Nextel merged in August 2005). In 1994, AT&T Wireless Services purchased McCaw Cellular which was eventually sold to Cingular, becoming the largest cellular service at that time. Again, believing in access to the mobile internet, Craig purchased Clearwire Corporation in October 2003, which provided mobile and fixed wireless broadband services to cities and rural areas. In 2009, it launched CLEAR 4G, showcasing fast mobile internet at broadband speeds. Craig steered Clearwire as chair and co-chairman until 2010.
For his impact on and vision for the wireless industry, Craig received the 1989 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, was named 2007 Silicon Valley Forum’s Visionary honoree, was honored with the Horatio Alger Award, and was inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame in 2000. Craig is an active alumnus of Stanford University and sits on the Board of Overseers at the Hoover Institution, and is currently CEO of Eagle River Investments.
Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000.