Wi-Fi networking equipment provider Ruckus Wireless has finally filed paperwork for an initial public offering of common stock.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are lead joint book-running managers for the offering, while Deutsche Bank Securities is acting as a book-running manager. Needham, Oppenheimer, ThinkEquity and William Blair are acting as co-managers. Share pricing and the expected offering date have not been disclosed.
Ruckus' S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission reveals that the vendor had annual revenue of $120.02 million in 2011 and has already generated $93.91 million in revenue during the first six months of 2012. The company became profitable in 2011, when it tallied annual net income of $4.19 million. The company's net income for the first half of 2012 is already an impressive $24.37 million.
During 2012, the company has attracted 41.8 percent of its revenue from the Americas region, 37.5 percent from Asia-Pacific and 20.7 percent from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Unlike competitor BelAir Networks, which was acquired by Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) earlier this year, Ruckus has long maintained that it preferred to issue an IPO and remain an independent company. Ruckus initially expected to go public in the first half of 2011, but the sputtering economy delayed those plans. Early this year, Fierce cited Ruckus as one of several wireless companies likely to issue an IPO in 2012 or beyond. Ruckus has raised $72.7 million in private funding since opening its doors in June 2004.
Telecom operators that have standardized on Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi equipment include Time Warner Cable, O2 Telefonica UK, BSkyB, Towerstream and Tikona Digital Networks. Ruckus also has a global reseller agreement major infrastructure provider Nokia Siemens Networks.
In addition, Ruckus it is expected to announce today that Oi, Brazil's largest telecommunications operator, will deploy a nationwide Wi-Fi hotspot service based upon Ruckus' ZoneFlex Smart Wi-Fi platform.
The Wi-Fi network will be deployed as a public access offering and will also help Oi offload traffic from its existing mobile network in high-traffic urban areas. Oi intends to integrate its Wi-Fi network and services with its existing mobile infrastructure, said Ruckus. The companies did not disclose the value of their contract.
Mobile operators such as Oi have already deployed macrocells for their networks in most cities and towns within their markets, aside from rural and remote areas, but they are increasingly turning to Wi-Fi and small cell solutions in order to improve cell density in urban areas experiencing high data traffic.
Oi has already deployed thousands of Smart Wi-Fi hotspots and intends to expand its branded broadband services and hotspot footprint using Ruckus ZoneFlex products in a variety of locations such as McDonalds, Starbucks, airports, hotels, business centers and other public venues. Oi is also using Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi to offer managed Wi-Fi services to small and medium business throughout Brazil, said Ruckus.
Oi views Wi-Fi as a strategic technology for improving penetration and integration of telecom services in Brazil, said Pedro Ripper, the operator's innovation and new business director.
"We have invested in Wi-Fi and view this technology as a complement to our existing mobile service offering. We also saw the need for carrier-class Wi-Fi equipment that would allow us to offer more reliable and higher speed Wi-Fi services and seamlessly integrate our hotspot islands directly into our mobile infrastructure in the future," said Ripper.
For more:
- see this Ruckus release and this release
- see this Ruckus' S-1 filing
- see this GigaOM article
Special Report: Wireless companies expected to launch IPOs in 2012 and beyond
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