u-blox acquires 4M Wireless

The acquisition will give u-blox ownership of advanced protocol stacks that are licensed to chipset vendors whose products enable 4G user equipment for applications with needs for high speed data connectivity such as smartphones, tablet computers, notebooks and any other high-speed wireless modems. Also a variant of the products is licensed to manufacturers of 4G test equipment. 4M Wireless was founded in 2006 and has headquarters in the UK and operations in Lahore, Pakistan’s center for technology and higher education. The company has been profitable over the past 3 years.

“4M Wireless adds leading edge know-how in the area of next-generation wireless technology that will operate over 4G networks worldwide” said Thomas Seiler, CEO of u-blox. “Their proven software and test solutions and impressive customer list also brings u-blox immediate new licensing revenues in Europe, Asia and America”.

“We are very pleased to be part of an important and growing global company such as u-blox and to expand its wireless service capabilities” said Atif Malik, CEO of 4M Wireless. “As part of u-blox we will strengthen services and support to our product licensees and continue the LTE protocol stack roadmap.”

Key terms of the transaction include:

Acquisition of 100% of the shares of 4M Wireless at a price of approximately 9 million US Dollars, depending on earn-out
Intellectual property and software in the area of LTE wireless technology
Integration of the 4M Wireless business and employees into u-blox’ organization

LTE is a unifying technology for almost all mobile operators around the world. All GSM/UMTS operators as well as most CDMA operators have agreed to evolve to LTE. Currently there are 35 commercially available LTE networks in over 20 countries, and 48 manufacturers have already announced 197 different LTE end-devices. 300 Million LTE subscribers are expected by 2015.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and pending regulatory approval. Closing is expected by September 2012.