NextWave

Nortel goes its own way with LTE IPR licensing

Thu, 08 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

Nortel has thrown a wrench into the LTE framework licensing agreement announced last month by seven wireless vendors. The vendor, known to hold some substantial IPR for OFDMA, has snubbed its nose at last month's framework agreement, instead going it alone on LTE IPR fees and announcing what is says is a competitive handset royalty rate of about 1 percent of the handset sales price for its portfolio of LTE essential patents.

The fee structure agreed to by Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, NEC, NextWave Wireless, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks and Sony Ericsson calls for royalties for LTE that total less than 10 percent of the resale price for handsets and less than $10 for laptops. However, it is up to the companies involved to decide how this (up to) 10 percent is split between them. Nortel's plan would guarantee the vendor makes money.

Qualcomm and Motorola, to other big patent holders, are likely to stay out of the seven-vendor initiative and come out with their own LTE license schemes. How much visibility will that give in terms of industry IPR fees?

For more on Nortel's LTE play:
- read this Nortel LTE royalty press release

Related article:
Key vendors absent from new LTE licensing scheme

NextWave selling big swathes of spectrum

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Just in time. Last week NextWave announced it enlisted the help of Deutsche Bank and UBS to assist in the sale of its vast U.S. spectrum holdings, which include licenses and lease rights for a total of 4.7 billion MHz/pops of spectrum comprised of 154 AWS licenses in the 1.7/2.1 GHz band, 30 WCS licenses in the 2.3 GHz band, and 39 EBS and BRS licenses and spectrum leases in the 2.5 GHz band.

With the last of the so-called beach front spectrum--the 700 MHz airwaves--being auctioned and swallowed up primarily by AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless, NextWave has received multiple offers for its spectrum assets, NextWave President and CEO Allen Salmasi said.

For sure, NextWave will be able to get top dollar for the spectrum now that the FCC doesn't plan to release anymore spectrum, and there are still a number of companies chomping on the bit to get their hands on spectrum. NextWave's state mission in the past was to make spectrum available to companies that wanted to enter the mobile broadband space and use its products and technologies, including WiMAX and TD-CDMA. Today, NextWave says it no longer needs this spectrum in order to reach its product sales objectives.

NextWave's sale could give WiMAX the bigger U.S. foothold that the technology's proponents were hoping for with the 700 MHz auction. LTE, not WiMAX, emerged as the big technology winner in the 700 MHz band as AT&T and Verizon announced their intentions to deploy the 4G technology in the major swathes of spectrum they won.

While not announced by the WiMAX Forum, sources close to the forum say an FDD profile for the AWS band in the U.S. is imminent as is one for the 2496-2690 MHz band, which is reserved for broadband services in the U.S and in many European countries such as the UK. SpectrumCo, the joint venture formed by Sprint (which withdrew from the consortium in August) and cable heavyweights Comcast, Cox, Time Warner and others, purchased $2.37 billion worth of spectrum in the AWS band last year and has yet to announce its plans for the spectrum. But sources say WiMAX equipment is now being tested for this band. Moreover, speculation is that Comcast might be mulling an entrance into the wireless broadband market as a network operator.--Lynnette

The CTIA news that didn't happen

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:59:58 -0400

The big buzz at the CTIA 2008 trade show here in Las Vegas was the hope that Sprint Nextel would make its big announcement around its WiMAX Xohm business. Word was that Sprint wanted to make an announcement concerning a WiMAX joint venture that would include a number of players: Comcast, Time Warner, Best Buy, Intel, Google and of course Sprint and Clearwire. Sources close to the operator say the deal was pulled back at the final hour due to concerns over joint venture control.

That joint venture, of course, would represent the resurrection of a previous Sprint-Clearwire joint venture that went south. Meanwhile, the nationwide launch of Xohm has been delayed. During FierceWireless' co-located conference today, The Path to 4G, Xohm President and CTO Barry West indicated the company wasn't ready to roll out the technology this month as planned and declined to indicate when a launch would happen. WiMAX is currently up and running in Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Chicago on a soft-launch basis. It's clear from the conference, however, that Sprint is running full steam ahead with its vision for WiMAX. It just needs the cash infusion to do it.

Meanwhile, Arun Sarin, chief executive of Vodafone Group, reiterated his call for the wireless industry to adopt LTE as the 4G standard and give WiMAX a home within that standard. Sarin made similar comments at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February. Of course, those are fighting words for a company like Sprint. During a keynote on Tuesday, Sprint President and CEO Dan Hesse said that unlike 4G alternatives like LTE, WiMAX works now.

Finally, according to NextWave President and CEO Allen Salmasi, the company is planning a rather large LTE trial later this year with an unnamed operator. -Lynnette

NextWave re-organizes business

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:59:53 -0500

NextWave Wireless has re-organized its business, folding its plethora of acquisitions into two business units, one focused on mobile infrastructure and the other on devices.

NextWave will combine its PacketVideo business, which makes software for multimedia phones, with its semiconductor business, which is primarily focused on producing WiMAX chips. The infrastructure division will include TD-CDMA vendor IPWireless and WiFi vendor Go Networks.

NextWave has a mission of making spectrum available to companies that want to enter the mobile broadband space and use its products and technologies, including WiMAX and TD-CDMA.

To read more about NextWave's re-organization:
- take a look at this article from Telephony Magazine

Related articles:
NextWave, Huawei trial mobile WiMax Report
NextWave bolts Japan after one month Report

NextWave acquires WebSky Argentina

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:59:55 -0500

NextWave Wireless has purchased WebSky Argentina, an owner of 42 megahertz of spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band covering the Buenos Aires metro region. The purchase is part of NextWave's strategy to own spectrum and build WiMAX or TD-CDMA infrastructure for other companies. Earlier this year, NextWave acquired IPWireless, the maker of TD-CDMA, for $99.6 million and purchased a 65 percent controlling stake in WiMAX Telecom AG through its Inquam Broadband GmbH subsidiary. It also announced the fabrication of its first-generation WiMAX chipset.

To find out more about NextWave's acquisition of WebSky:
- Check out this article from wimaxday

3Q loss widens for NextWave, while revenue jumps

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 06:59:55 -0500

NextWave widened its loss in the third quarter to $91.7 million, compared with a loss of $24.6 million in the same period 2006. The majority of the loss, about 40 percent, was attributed to its acquisition and integration of WiFi vendor Go Networks and IPWireless, the maker and licensee of TD-CDMA equipment, during the first half of 2007. NextWave said it expects to realize improved contributions from these businesses in the future resulting from the achievement of operating efficiencies, improved margin contributions and the one-time nature of approximately $11.2 million of these charges.

NextWave's PacketVideo subsidiary was largely responsible for a jump in revenues, which increased 166 percent compared with the third quarter 2006. Revenues came in at $17.8 million due to continued growth in mobile device software royalties along with increased sales of TD-CDMA equipment and end-user devices. NextWave said IPWireless has shipped more than 600 TD-CDMA base stations to t-Mobile in the Czech Republic.

NextWave has a mission of making spectrum available to companies that want to enter the mobile broadband space and use its products and technologies, including WiMAX and TD-CDMA. It acquired IPWireless, the maker of TD-CDMA, for $99.6 million and purchased a 65-percent controlling stake in WiMAX Telecom AG through its Inquam Broadband GmbH subsidiary. It also is developing its first-generation WiMAX chipset.

To find out more:
- read this release

Report says WiMAX MVNO model may work

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:59:53 -0500

A new report from Strategy Analytics says the MVNO model may actually be more successful in the WiMAX world. The report, "WiMAX MVNOs: Just Crazy Enough to Work?," points to Synterra, one of Russia's largest telecom providers, and its invitation to regional telecom operators to partner on an MVNO basis to offer WiMAX services using Synterra's spectrum and backbone infrastructure.

"This sort of risk- and investment-sharing makes sense for WiMAX operators," notes Tom Elliott, Vice President at Strategy Analytics and author of the report. "If Sprint winds up staying in WiMAX, they may duplicate their wholesale business model from the CDMA space to WiMAX."

According to the report, the WiMAX community's history of open architecture and a broad supplier ecosystem may help WiMAX MVNO's in the key area of consumer devices. Of course, this is news NextWave likes to hear. Its plan is to make spectrum available to companies that want to enter the mobile broadband space and use its products and technologies, including WiMAX and TD-CDMA.

To read more:
- check out this article from Wi-Fi Technology News

Related articles:
- NextWave spells out plans for WiMAX chips
- NextWave ships WiMAX chipset samples

Huawei announces WiMAX play

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 07:59:55 -0400

Chinese vendor Huawei, which has been aggressively vying for UMTS and EV-DO contracts globally, introduced its New Generation WiMAX commercial solution. The product includes what Huawei calls an HSPA/LTE/UMB co-platform infrastructure and integrates 4G technologies such as HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat-reQuest) and MIMO. Huawei claims this integrated approach offers operators a 30-percent cost savings on base stations while doubling system capacity.

The products include gateway, distributed base station, transmission, network management system and terminal. This solution can deploy WiMAX with GSM, CDMA, IMS, NGN and DSL integrated networks, and helps operators provide more high-speed mobile broadband service.

For more about Huawei's play in WiMAX:
- read this release

Japan's IP Mobile files for bankruptcy

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 07:59:53 -0400

Japan's IP Mobile has filed for bankruptcy after its attempts to gain funding fell through and its Nov. 9 deadline for launching services looms. The licensee has continued to have bad luck in attracting investors. NextWave invested in the company a few short months to ensure the launch of TD-CDMA technology. Recently, IP Mobile had said it wanted to flip from TD-CDMA to TD-SCDMA. Since it couldn't find financing, IP Mobile must return its mobile license to Japan's regulatory body.

For more on the IP Mobile bankruptcy filing:
- read this article from Jijii Press

Related Articles:
- NextWave to be only foreign carrier in Japan Report
- Japan's IP Mobile to flip from TD-CDMA to TD-SCDMA Report

Japan's IPMobile to flip from TD-CDMA to TD-SCDMA

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 07:59:56 -0400

IPMobile, the beleaguered licensee in Japan that has been trying to roll out TD-CDMA technology, said it anticipates more than $100 million in support from Distacom Group, a Hong Kong-based investment company, to enable it to roll out services. However, the operator intends to switch from TD-CDMA technology to the Chinese-developed TD-SCDMA 3G standard.

In September, IPMobile saw NextWave sell its 69.23-percent stake in the company back to Mori Trust after purchasing the stake the month prior. NextWave decided its chances of making a profit in the highly competitive Japanese market were slim. NextWave bought the stake to further the deployment of TD-CDMA since it has an interest in developing the technology after acquiring TD-CDMA technology developer IPWireless in April.

IPMobile will now ask for permission from the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs to switch technologies as it runs into a deadline that requires the operator to roll out service in November.

"Considering more than 20 worldwide vendors have already developed more than 100 kinds of handsets, TD-SCDMA will drastically change procurement costs for equipment and our competitiveness in Japan," said IPMobile.

To read more about IPMobile's TD-SCDMA plans:
- take a look at this article from Nikkei Electronics