IP Wireless to get cut of $180m broadband wireless win

NEWS Infrastructure start-up IPWireless has announced a significant win as one of the companies supplying the AtlasONE network in Malaysia. AtlasONE is planning to serve up to 500,000 home and business subscribers with non-line of sight, wireless broadband which competes with fixed line offerings. It signed a deal with IPWireless partner Thales on Friday for $180m. End users will need a desktop modem or PC card for their laptop or PDA. IPWireless' equipment uses the less commonly talked about TD-CDMA channel of next-generation UMTS spectrum and can allow very high-bandwidth data communications. AtlasONE chairman Mohammad Badry bin Hanafi said Malaysians will be able to use one of the world's most advanced data networks. A number of operators around the world are thought to be looking at IP Wireless' flavour of wireless broadband, though top tier wins have yet to be unveiled. IPWireless has received around $150m in VC funding to date, and although headquartered in California the bulk of its engineers and R&D is in the UK.