KIRKLAND, Wa. – Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp. are close to announcing a $12 billion joint venture that plans to roll out ultra fast wireless Internet access for cellphones and laptops in coming years, with the backing of an unlikely alliance of technology and cable companies.

Sprint has agreed to merge its wireless broadband unit with Clearwire, a Kirkland, Wash., firm founded by cellphone pioneer Craig McCaw, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The new company has raised a total of $3.2 billion in outside financing from several heavyweights ? $1.05 billion from cable provider Comcast Corp., $1 billion from Intel Corp., $550 million from Time Warner Cable Inc. and $500 million from Internet giant Google Inc. Smaller cable provider Bright House contributed $100 million. The investments value the new company at more than $12 billion.

Final approval needed from the investors was received Tuesday, says one person familiar with the deal. An announcement could come as soon as Wednesday, people familiar with the matter said. The Wall Street Journal reported on the outlines of the deal in late March.

The deal, which still requires approval from regulators, would give cable operators and Google prominent roles in shaping the future of mobile Internet access and a new platform for their content and services as growth begins to slow in their traditional businesses. For Intel, it breaths life into WiMax, a technology standard the company has championed that will be used by the new venture to provide high-speed wireless signals.

For Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint, whose core cellphone business is struggling mightily, the new company is a chance to get a two year head-start on rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. in building a broadband network capable of handling Web traffic and multimedia at speeds at least eight times faster than what’s available today.

Sprint will have majority ownership in the new venture.

Completion of the deal is a major success for Dan Hesse, a former AT&T Wireless CEO who took over as Sprint CEO last December and was under immediate pressure from Wall Street to sort out Sprint’s wireless broadband strategy. He still faces the huge problem of Sprint’s ailing Nextel unit, which the company is considering selling or spinning off.

Negotiating the transaction was hugely complex. Titans of media and technology ? Comcast Chief Executive Brian Roberts, Google CEO Eric Schmitt, and Mr. McCaw ? had to agree on everything from pricing and marketing strategy to the fair valuation of the huge swath of radio spectrum licenses controlled by Sprint and Clearwire. Wireless companies need spectrum licenses from the government in order to transmit signals to customers on certain dedicated frequencies.

At least one party that was far along in the talks ? retailer Best Buy, which was interested in launching its own customized mobile Internet devices ? dropped out earlier this year when negotiations got too complex, people familiar with the matter say.

Some parties were concerned that Sprint could use its control of the venture to prevent it from competing effectively for Sprint customers. But to reassure the partners, Hesse agreed to give up operational control to Clearwire. Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff would hold the same position in the new company while McCaw would be chairman.

The company, which will take on Clearwire’s name, will offer both traditional voice service as well a souped-up wireless broadband access. Cable providers will be able to offer wireless service under their own brands under a re-sell agreement with the new Clearwire.

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