Socowave receives €3m to develop antenna system

Socowave, the Irish developer of wireless access systems for mobile communications networks, has secured a €3m (£2.5m) Series A investment round led by Balderton Capital.

The funding will enable Socowave to move forward with the development of technology that is claimed to substantially increase the data handling capacity of cellular radio infrastructure while reducing energy consumption. 

Socowave’s Active Antenna System technology allows the cellular base station to detect the direction of incoming signals from user groups and to optimise the radio link using digital techniques.

This new class of base station technology increases wireless data handling capacity five-fold, while reducing the energy consumption of the overall base station system by 50 per cent through eliminating inefficient base station components and locating certain elements inside the antenna housing. 

Joe Moore, founder and chief executive of Socowave, said: ‘The mobile infrastructure industry is urgently seeking step-function improvements in radio access network performance as mobile operators struggle to cope with the massive uptake in smartphone usage and its impact on their networks.

‘This funding from Balderton Capital provides Socowave with resources to accelerate the development of our Active Antenna System technology platform, delivering a new class of radio access platform for 3G, LTE and 4G cellular networks.‘