The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Clearwire Corp. may take the unusual step of missing a large debt payment, as it struggles to raise cash to stay in business beyond the next 12 months.

The $237 million payment is due Dec. 1, the Journal reported on its website Friday afternoon. The report added that Kirkland-based Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) had $698 million in cash and short-term investments on Sept. 30:

But the company needs to raise lots of money if it is to stay in business after the next 12 months, so it's debating the unusual step of failing to make a payment.

"It's a very expensive payment that we have," Chief Executive Erik Prusch said in an interview. "It would be a significant drain of our cash, so we have to evaluate everything in terms of our decision of where we're going."

Clearwire has been on a roller coaster lately. In early October, majority shareholder Sprintannounced plans to shift customers away from Clearwire’s WiMAX technology to its own 4G network. Then a few weeks later, the two companies reached a deal in which Sprint agreed to help with the rollout of Clearwire's new 4G wireless network, as reported on TechFlash.com tech news website. Clearwire had said it needed to raise $1 billion for that rollout.

Clearwire's already-anemic stock price fell on the news, closing at $1.47, down 39 cents.

If Clearwire does elect to skip the payment, it raises questions of how hard it might be for executives to draw the new investment they need for their network expansion.

One true believer remains wireless pioneer John Stanton. The executive chairman of Clearwire stepped up last August to boost the faltering company by doubling his own investment. That sent the stock price climbing, if only temporarily.