Wireless acquisition

NextWave Wireless has signed a definitive agreement to acquire IPWireless, the San Bruno, CA company with research and development facilities in the UK.

Under the terms of the agreement, NextWave will pay approximately $100 million at closing, consisting of $25 million in cash and $75 million in NextWave common stock.

IPWireless is a supplier of TD-CDMA network equipment and subscriber terminals. The company has been a leading force in the development of 3GPP TDD UMTS standards which serve as the foundation for mobile TV and wireless broadband public-safety network solutions.

IPWireless' TDtv solution, based on 3GPP Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS), allows UMTS operators to deliver mobile television and other multimedia services using their existing 3G spectrum and networks, without impacting their current voice and data services.

A trial of TDtv technology, recently conducted in the UK by four of the largest mobile operators in Europe, successfully demonstrated its ability to  deliver multi-channel broadcast services using the trial participants’ existing spectrum.