Wi-Fi access provider Boingo Wireless is expected to debut Wednesday with an initial public offering estimated at around $75 million. The IPO will be a test of whether the surging demand for data will translate into a strong stock presence for Boingo, which was founded in 2001.
Boingo plans to sell 5.77 million shares of its stock at $12 to $14 per share, and plans to trade on the Nasdaq Global Markets stock exchange under the symbol "WIFI." Boingo has received venture-backed funding from the likes of New Enterprise Associates, Mitsui & Co, Steelpoint Capital, Sternhill Partners and others.
One of the key strengths of Boingo (a FierceWireless Fierce 15 winner in 2003) is its global reach; the company has 211,000 Wi-Fi access points in over 100 countries. Additionally, the company has partnered with numerous wireless carriers and device OEMs around the globe to support its software. Further, Boingo is positioned to help wireless carriers offload data from their already taxed cellular networks; global mobile data traffic will grow 26 times between 2010 and 2015, to 6.3 exabytes--a billion gigabytes--per month, according to the latest Cisco's Visual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast, which was released in February.
Boingo provides service to Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad on an hourly or monthly basis, and has inked deals on Wi-Fi roaming with the likes of T-Mobile USA. In December, Boingo signed a deal with flat-rate carrier MetroPCS (NASDAQ:PCS) to have its Boingo Mobile app pre-installed on MetroPCS' Android phones. The deal--which represents Boingo's first carrier pre-load agreement--allows customers to latch onto the company's hotspots for $7.95 per month.
For more:
- see this USA Today article
- see this Nasdaq listing
- see this SocialTech posting
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