Posted by Avi Telyas on Nov 4, 2009 in
WiMAX 
Finally, some figures on WiMAX adoption in Japan are available.
Number of subscribers: 21,700. That’s an average of about 7000 users per month since the official launch date. Quite sad, isn’t it?
The article continues to review the technology, laptops supporting the technology and the competition (Emobile), which came out with the 100 Yen Notebook campaign a few months before the official WiMAX launch.
UQ WiMAX did create a lot of hype around the WiMAX technology and the speed it supports, signed multiple MVNOs, but that was not enough to attract customers.
Yours truly decided not to use UQ WiMAX services, as my house was not covered , coverage around Tokyo is growing, but still cannot beat Emobile service.
UQ still plans to continue to deploy WiMAX around Japan, which means more investment in infrastructure and Base Stations. These are obviously bad news for KDDI and Intel (biggest investors in UQ) as well as for Mobile wiMAX technology.
Via Yahoo Japan Facta (JP)
Tags: Intel, KDDI, Subscribers, UQ WiMAX
Posted by Avi Telyas on Oct 19, 2009 in
WiMAX More than 1 year after Alvarion first certified Mobile WiMAX Base Station , here comes Airspan’s MacroMAXe.
I guess it is better late than never.
Disclaimer: I am a former employee of Airspan, but not involved since Dec. 2008
Posted by Avi Telyas on Oct 19, 2009 in
Alvarion,
WiMAX 
Israeli Media reports another Lay Off raound in Alvarion.
Globes reports this is the 3rd round, following Dec. 08 and April 09.
The Marker (Hebrew) – doesn’t seem to provide more information except a summary of recent Financial report and CEO transition.
Alvarion will report Q3 on Nov.11
Posted by Avi Telyas on Oct 6, 2009 in
Technology,
WiMAX It always amazes me how a webpage can look so wrong, but still deployed for everyone to see.
Something wrong with WiMAX Forum website:
Posted by Avi Telyas on Sep 18, 2009 in
WiMAX Airspan (formerly AIRN) has previously announced a voluntarily de-list from NASDAQ.
Therefore, I was a bit surprised to read about the 1-15 reverse stock split and the new ticker : AIRO.
Change of ticker, change of luck.
From Airspan PR:
With this new funding, we believe that Airspan will be well positioned to weather the current economic downturn and to benefit from some of the current initiatives in our industry. After a long process wherein we looked at many strategic alternatives, we believe the new funding from Oak Partners represents the best path forward for Airspan and our stakeholders.
Good luck!
Posted by Avi Telyas on Sep 17, 2009 in
WiMAX WiNetworks was founded in 2004, received investments of about $28 Millions according to Globes, or $40 Millions according to TheMarker. RuggedCom is expected to pay $14 Millions, of which $5 Millions will go to cover WiNetworks debts.
Thinking very hard what I can write about WiNetwork:
- They had a reasonable strategy: Developed smaller Base stations intended for smaller deployments or for additional coverage, which was previously Airspan’s Niche.
- Had some traction in developing countries, but not enough revenues to justify their existence.
- Most recent products were based on Sequans chipset which means less development efforts, but less IP.
Posted by Avi Telyas on Sep 2, 2009 in
WiMAX No need to speculate anymore.
In another twist in our plot, Airspan announces yet another preferred stock sale to Oak Investment Partners.
Neither Axxcelera nor Gilat managed to reach an agreement.
The press release explained the process:
Before entering into the Purchase Agreement with Oak, the Company conducted an extensive and lengthy strategic review process overseen by a special committee of independent directors, which retained Stephens Inc. as its financial advisor in February 2009 to assist with the process. While extensive negotiations were undertaken with several parties, no agreements could be reached on terms acceptable to the Special Committee. Following the termination of discussions with one such party on August 10, 2009, Oak made the offer which, following approximately three weeks of negotiations between the parties, resulted in the execution and delivery of the Purchase Agreement on September 1, 2009.
And Airspan’s dire financial situation:
Without the new investment, the Company would deplete its cash resources in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Either Oak Investment partners believe in Airspan’s turnaround or think future negotiations will help them return their investment. It is also obvious that Airspan cannot maintain their current burn rate and in need of extreme measures to save the failing company.
Tags: Airspan, Axxcelera, Gilat, Investment, Oak Investment Partners
Posted by Avi Telyas on Sep 2, 2009 in
Alvarion,
WiMAX Alvarion IR informed today that the board of directors named Eran Gorev (LinkedIn Profile) as the new CEO and president. Eran is currently the Chief Business Officer at NICE systems (another Israeli Company) and will assume day to day responsibility only in December.
I am sure Eran will face many challenges in his new role; I obviously wish him all the best, especially because we both graduated from the same high school (Eran is 6 years my senior).
Tzvika Friedman, the departing CEO, was probably not very effective in Q3, 09 while I doubt Eran Gorev will manage to change anything by end of Q4, 09. I wonder if this lack of leadership will affect the earning reports.
Tags: Eran Gorev
Posted by Avi Telyas on Aug 21, 2009 in
Technology,
WiMAX May be the wrong photo on WiMAX Forum Certification page, but if not, C-motech, a Korean company, just certified a dual band dual modem USB device with AU-KDDI logo.
C-Motech certification page indicates the board combines WiMAX and CDMA. Does this mean that KDDI and UQ WiMAX planning a joint campaign for data services?
Posted by Avi Telyas on Aug 19, 2009 in
WiMAX May be old news (from July), but I just bumped into it.
UL has issued a warning for Airspan Ethernet Adapter, including photos of the product. Not sure this warning has any effect on Airspan business.
However, this warning is interesting to me for another reason: How UL found out this product was not certified? Did a product malfunctioned which triggered an investigation, or was it a routine check?
If you can shed some light on UL process and warnings, please comment.
Tags: Airspan, UL warning