IPWireless stages management buyout

The management of mobile broadband player IPWireless has bought back 75 per cent of the company from former parent NextWave Wireless.

US wireless broadband vendor, NextWave purchased the UMTS-TDD kit supplier for $100m in April of 2007.

Under the deal, IPWireless returns to being a private company that will be led by the entire management team that originally went to NextWave. NextWave will retain a minority ownership stake in the firm.

IPWireless is one of the biggest proponents of TD-CDMA wireless broadband, also known as UMTS-TDD, with a customer base including T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange, Telefonica, and 3UK.

IPWireless’ TD-CDMA platform has been commercially deployed in more than a dozen countries, including the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Germany, South Africa, Sweden, the UK and the US.

The vendor also has a mobile TV platform, TDtv, based on the 3GPP Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS), which allows UMTS operators to deliver mobile television and other multimedia services using their existing 3G spectrum and networks.