Just a month after NextWave Wireless bought 69.23 percent of IP Mobile in Japan, the company is selling the stake back to Mori Trust, the group it purchased the stake from initially. NextWave decided its chances of making a profit in the highly competitive Japanese market were slim.
NextWave bought the stake to further the deployment of TD-CDMA since it has an interest in developing the technology after acquiring TD-CDMA technology developer IPWireless in April. IP Mobile secured spectrum in the 2 GHz band for mobile services in November 2005 along with Softbank and Emobile. Both of those companies have launched service, but IPMobile has struggled to find financing to deploy TD-CDMA technology.
But NextWave itself is burning through some serious cash as it embarks on its wireless 2.0 vision. The company lost more than $59.5 million during the second quarter, primarily attributed to its increase in operating expenses related to the expansion of its R&D teams and related support organizations.
For more about NextWave's exit from Japan:
- read this article from AFP
- and this report from the Japan Times