Working to meet the growing demand for wireless access to mobile data, CBRS pioneer Federated Wireless today announced that it has secured $51 million in Series C funding, with contributions from existing investors Allied Minds (LSE: ALM), American Tower (NYSE: AMT) and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, in addition to new investors Pennant Investors and SBA Communications (NASDAQ: SBAC). The funding will enable the company to further accelerate availability and adoption of shared spectrum CBRS services by wireless carriers, cable companies, utilities and enterprises seeking to augment existing and next-generation 5G wireless services and private LTE.
“We are extremely pleased with the way Federated Wireless’ momentum in the CBRS industry has accelerated since our initial investment and are proud to have been able to contribute to it in a material way,” said Joe Pignato and Mike Turner, Co-CEOs of Allied Minds. “The contributions that Federated Wireless has made in bringing CBRS to this point are significant and demonstrate its leadership in the space.”
What is CBRS?
CBRS is an innovative technology that delivers the best attributes of traditional wireless and Wi-Fi, with lower fixed cost, higher quality and greater efficiency and scale. The 150MHz available in the 3.5GHz CBRS band is approximately equivalent to that owned by the largest national wireless carriers and is divided into three tiers of service dedicated to incumbents, Priority Access Licenses (PALs) and General Authorized Access. The Federated Wireless ESC network is operational and ensures that incumbent transmissions are interference-free, while the Federated Wireless Spectrum Controller dynamically allocates spectrum to users in all three tiers.
Industry Leadership
As a pioneer in the shared spectrum space, Federated Wireless has long led the industry in development of shared spectrum CBRS capabilities, including:
Co-founding the CBRS Alliance
Being the first to complete deployment of a nationwide Environmental Sensing Capability (ESC) network
Readying multiple customers to deliver CBRS services using its Spectrum Controller (Spectrum Access System or SAS) when commercial services begin this month
Customers and Partner Ecosystem
Federated Wireless’ customer base includes more than 25 companies spanning the telecommunications, energy, hospitality, education, retail, office space, municipal and residential verticals, with a wide range of use cases ranging from network densification and mobile offload to private LTE and industrial IoT. Its partner ecosystem includes more than 40 device manufacturers and edge partners, all of which are dedicated to collaboration to advance development and proliferation of CBRS services.
“We passed all of the major hurdles on the road to CBRS deployment in the first half of 2019 and we are fully ready to engage the growing number and types of customers clamoring for access to shared spectrum services,” said Iyad Tarazi, President and CEO of Federated Wireless. “I would like to thank Allied Minds, American Tower, GIC, Pennant Investors and SBA Communications for their support and alignment with our vision for this truly unique opportunity. This funding will propel us, and by extension the CBRS industry as a whole, to new heights, helping us to ensure that we are able to not only meet but exceed the needs of the customers and partners who have collaborated so closely with us to make this vision a reality.”
BTIG, LLC served as exclusive financial adviser to Federated Wireless.
About Federated Wireless
Founded in 2012, Federated Wireless has long led the industry in development of shared spectrum CBRS capabilities. The company’s partner ecosystem includes more than 40 device manufacturers and edge partners, all of which are dedicated to collaboration to advance development and proliferation of CBRS services. Federated Wireless’ customer base includes companies spanning the telecommunications, energy, hospitality, education, retail, office space, municipal and residential verticals, with use cases ranging from network densification and mobile offload to Private LTE and Industrial IoT. For more information, visit: www.federatedwireless.com.
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