NextWave Wireless said it will pay $13.3 million to
acquire privately held Go Networks. The deal gives NextWave, which develops
WiMAX gear, entry into the mobile Wi-Fi arena.
Mountain View, Calif.-based Go Networks becomes a NextWave
subsidiary.
The acquisition follows NextWave’s acquisition of wireless spectrum
in Europe and the U.S. The purchase follows field tests of gear by several
municipal Wi-Fi vendors.
“After extensive field testing of several metro-scale Wi-Fi network systems,
we selected Go’s Metro Broadband Wireless (MBW) system as the most
competitive and cost-effective,” NextWave CEO and President Allen Salmasi
said in a statement.
The carrier-class MBW system employs Go Network’s xRF technology, a
proprietary beamforming antenna.
Salmasi said Go Networks’ MBW will complement its WiMAX product line, giving
customers the option of using licensed or unlicensed spectrum.
In recent weeks, NextWave, formed in 2005, has won licenses in the U.S. and
in Germany. The FCC granted NextWave 154 licenses in the 1.7GHz and 2.1GHz frequency bands, covering 63 million people in 13 markets, including New
Orleans, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Sacramento, Calif., and Puerto Rico. NextWave paid $115.5 million for the licenses.
NextWave also paid German regulators $23.1 million for 28 broadband licenses
in the 3.5GHz band. Inquam Broadband, a joint
venture with a company owning wireless networks in Portugal and Romania, purchased the spectrum.
As part of the financial terms, NextWave also said it will pay Go Networks
as much as $25.7 million in stock if certain milestones are achieved over
the 18 months following the deal’s closing in he first quarter of 2007.
