--Acquisition Will Extend CommScope's Wireless Capabilities and
Innovation--
HICKORY, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: COMM), a global provider of
connectivity and essential infrastructure solutions for communications
networks, has agreed to acquire Airvana LP, a privately-held leader in
small cell solutions for wireless networks.
Airvana,
headquartered in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, provides award-winning 4G
LTE and 3G small cell solutions that enable people to access
communications, information and entertainment in the most challenging
and high-value environments—offices, public venues and homes. Since its
founding in 2000, Airvana has played a key role in enabling the use of
mobile devices for data access. Airvana began small cell development to
complement its macro cell mobile broadband infrastructure products and
today focuses exclusively on small cells. Airvana has shipped 1.5
million small cells and supports one of the largest small cell networks
in the world.
This acquisition will expand CommScope's
leadership and capabilities in providing indoor wireless capacity and
coverage, an increasingly important market opportunity that is growing
due to consumers' and businesses' insatiable demand for wireless data.
The combination of Airvana's innovative small cell offerings and
CommScope's industry-leading distributed antenna systems (DAS) portfolio
will enable CommScope to provide a broader range of solutions,
addressing single-operator, single-band, low capacity environments all
the way through multi-carrier, multi-technology, multi-band, high
capacity environments.
"Airvana has differentiated itself in the emerging indoor small cell
market through its unique product architecture and innovation," said
Morgan Kurk, senior vice president and Wireless segment leader,
CommScope. "With a 15-year track record of delivering mobile broadband
infrastructure products that meet the requirements of Tier 1 operators,
Airvana's carrier-grade embedded software development capabilities are
impressive and complementary to CommScope.
"As the wireless industry evolves toward Cloud RAN, we believe that
CommScope's ION-E®
solution and Airvana's OneCell™
Cloud RAN small cell system together will comprise a full range of
highly flexible, cost-effective solutions that address all the indoor
wireless challenges customers face. I look forward to welcoming Airvana
to CommScope and working with its talented team to provide the wireless
solutions needed for today and into the future."
Richard Lowe, Airvana's president and chief executive officer; Vedat
Eyuboglu, Airvana's co-founder and chief technology officer; and
Airvana's existing employees, most of whom are in Chelmsford, Mass. and
Bangalore, India, will join CommScope. The acquired business will
continue to be headquartered in Chelmsford and will operate within
CommScope's Wireless segment upon completion of the acquisition.
"Our breakthrough Cloud RAN small cell architecture represents a
dramatic advance in wireless performance, capacity and deployment
economics," said Eyuboglu. "With CommScope, we will be perfectly
positioned to realize its full potential."
"We look forward to pairing our expertise in small cells with
CommScope's broad portfolio and global presence," said Lowe. "Combining
our capabilities will create an extensive set of indoor wireless
solutions to meet the evolving needs of our customers. Moreover, we
believe CommScope's global marketing, distribution and support
capabilities will enable us to rapidly grow the business for our small
cell products. CommScope's intent to remain a leader in small cells
through technology innovation and their commitment to their workforce
makes it an excellent home for the Airvana business."
Airvana's 4G small cell product portfolio includes OneCell, the world's
first Cloud RAN small cell system, targeted for enterprise and public
venue LTE deployments. OneCell has won multiple technology awards,
including the Outstanding Overall Mobile Technology award at Mobile
World Congress 2015. Airvana also introduced recently the S1000
Small Cell for small and medium businesses, and is a finalist for
the Emerging Technology Award at CTIA
Super Mobility 2015 September 9-11 in Las Vegas. Both small cell
solutions are managed via the Airvana Device Management System, a
comprehensive, highly scalable small cell management system that enables
plug-and-play provisioning of small cells, self-organizing networks
(SON) and performance monitoring.
The acquisition, which is structured as a purchase of substantially all
of Airvana's assets, is expected to be completed within the next 60
days. CommScope intends to fund the acquisition with cash on hand.
Additional terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A. is serving as legal advisor to
CommScope. Pacific Crest Securities is serving as financial advisor to
Airvana and Sidley Austin LLP is serving as its legal advisor.
ION-E is a registered trademark of CommScope, Inc. OneCell is a
trademark of Airvana LP.
About CommScope
CommScope
(NASDAQ: COMM) helps companies around the world design, build and manage
their wired and wireless networks. Our vast portfolio of network
infrastructure includes some of the world's most robust and innovative
wireless and fiber optic solutions. Our talented and experienced global
team is driven to help customers increase bandwidth; maximize existing
capacity; improve network performance and availability; increase energy
efficiency; and simplify technology migration. You will find our
solutions in the largest buildings, venues and outdoor spaces; in data
centers and buildings of all shapes, sizes and complexity; at wireless
cell sites; in telecom central offices and cable headends; in FTTx
deployments; and in airports, trains, and tunnels. Vital networks around
the world run on CommScope solutions.
About Airvana
Airvana enables mobile operators to deliver dramatically better service
to subscribers in the most challenging and high-value environments:
offices, public venues, and in the home. The company's award-winning 4G
LTE and 3G small cell solutions ensure "five bar" voice coverage,
superior data performance, and expanded capacity for wireless services.
Independent research firms consistently rank Airvana among the small
cell market share leaders. Headquartered in Chelmsford, Mass., USA,
Airvana is a founding member of the Small Cell Forum and has 15 years of
experience providing commercial wireless equipment to over 90 operators
globally. For more information, visit www.airvana.com.
This press release includes forward-looking statements that are based on
information currently available to management, management's beliefs, as
well as on a number of assumptions concerning future events.
Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of performance and are
subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, which could
cause the actual results to differ materially from those currently
expected. In providing forward-looking statements, the company does not
intend, and is not undertaking any obligation or duty, to update these
statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150908005412/en/
Investor Contact:
Jennifer Crawford, CommScope
+1
828-323-4970
or
Phil Armstrong, CommScope
+1 828-323-4848
or
Media
Contact:
Rick Aspan, CommScope
+1 708-236-6568
publicrelations@commscope.com
Source: CommScope
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