Wireless Firms Attract Funds Investments in Sequans and Nomad reflect excitement around WiMax.
Red Herring Magazine July 24, 2006 http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=17692&hed=Wireless%20Firms%20Attract%20Funds Two European wireless companies announced Monday that they have raised venture funding, signaling growing investor excitement around WiMAX, an emerging wide-area wireless broadband technology. Paris-based Sequans Communications, a supplier of fixed and mobile WiMAX system-on-chips, said it raised $24 million in a new round of equity financing. The round was led by Kennet Venture Partners, an international private equity firm that provides growth equity to technology businesses in Europe and the United States. Sequans existing investors, Add Partners, Cap Décisif, T-Source, SG Asset Management, and Vision Capital, also participated in the round. The three-year-old company claims to be the first to have received certification in fixed WiMAX for both base station and subscriber station reference designs. Nomad, a Newcastle, England-based company which designs, installs, and operates high-bandwidth connectivity aboard trains, raised £8 million ($14.58 million) in a series A round from Amadeus Partners. Germanys T-Mobile Venture Fund also participated in the round. Nomad, which installs base stations along rail tracks and uses pre-WiMAX technology to backhaul traffic from moving trains to the Internet, competes with existing satellite solutions, Chairman Nigel Wallbridge said in a phone interview with RedHerring.com. Because the companys system works by connecting trains to wireless base stations along the tracks, trains run along a corridor of wireless coverage, allowing information to be sent and received at speeds 25 times faster than domestic broadband Internet coverage, according to the company. It claims its system is unique because it provides continuous high-speed coverage, even through tunnels and on underground sections of track. The company said it has already struck a deal, in partnership with T-Mobile, on the London-Brighton Express as well as a series of long-term, exclusive franchises to deliver on-train services. Nomads model is to acquire broadband franchise concessions from train-operating companies and to sell rights to use the network to service providers for particular applications. Nascent Market Although it is still early days for WiMAX, the global market for this technology is expected to reach $2.2 billion by 2008, according to technology consultancy Gartner. Some operators in Europe are starting to announce services based on pre-WiMAX technology. U.K. Internet service provider Pipex, for example, has said it will roll out service to three cities, said Ian Keene, a London-based Gartner researcher specializing in WiMAX and Wi-Fi. WiMAX is expected to be marketed in big cities to business customers as a cost-effective alternative to wireline services. It can be used as a complement to Wi-Fi services, which cover a shorter range. Clearwires announcement earlier this month should help kick-start the market, said Mr. Keene. The company had said it raised $900 million to build out its WiMAX network in the U.S. and provide services on its own or with partners in Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, and Mexico. Mike Roberts, a principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, said that although Europe is behind the U.S. in the deployment of municipal Wi-Fi services, the deployment of WiMAX will likely occur in parallel between 2007 and 2008. Korea has a head start. In late June, Korean operators rolled out commercial WiMAX services based on WiBro, the countrys homegrown version of Intels WiMAX. WiBros core technology, developed by Samsung, is designed to provide a connection even when users are traveling at speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour (74 miles per hour). ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
