Clarity Partners – Communications, Media and Business Services Private Equity Investors

Woosh gets new dosh

June 15, 2004
(National Business Review)

Woosh Wireless Limited has taken $35 million in additional equity funding on board, putting paid to speculation about possible difficulties after the collapse of three Project Probe ventures.

New Zealand based private equity firm, intellectual capital partners limited (I-CAP) is behind the cash injection, which Woosh chairman Rod Inglis says will be used to expand network coverage -- and provide greater density of coverage within existing service areas -- in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Southland.

Woosh says it still plans to provide national broadband coverage despite having been replaced as the selected Project Probe provider for the Northland, Wairarapa and Canterbury regions when it eventuated that the company could not provide service to the target communities within the timeframes specified by Project Probe administrators.

It retains its independently negotiated Project Probe contract with the Southland region.

The wireless company -- formerly Walker Wireless -- launched its service in Wellington late last month and expects to launch in Christchurch shortly. Since launching in Auckland in September 2003, Woosh has installed 45 cell sites, providing a network footprint across approximately 70 per cent of the Auckland region, the company said.

Woosh has been criticized by some users for spotty coverage within service areas even as it continues its aggressive coverage expansion.

Tony Hannon, managing director of I-CAP, said in a statement: "[W]e believe that the Woosh product provides a superb value proposition to the residents of New Zealand and that Woosh will become one of the leading brands in the country. We are excited to become a Woosh shareholder and look forward to the continued rollout of new products and services."

I-CAP joins existing Woosh shareholders that include Todd Capital, Craig Heatley, Stephen Tindall, Executive Chairman Rod Inglis and Clarity Partners, a US private equity firm investing exclusively in communications, media and related technology companies.

I-CAP is a private equity firm currently managing approximately $400 million through a family of five funds, each maintaining a geographic focus on Australasia but offering different investors from different parts of the world a range of investment strategies, Woosh said in a statement. Founded in 2000 by Professor David Teece, Tony Hannon and Nick Lodge, I-CAP is based in Auckland with offices in San Francisco and London.

The technology inside the Woosh offer is provided by IPWireless, a Delaware-incorporated company with head offices in San Bruno, California, and research facilities in the UK.

Based on the UMTS-TDD standard, the technology is coming to be seen as providing a real challenge to increasingly ubiquitous 802.11-based wireless networks.

The first trials of IPWireless system were in Vancouver, Canada, in 2001, but IPWireless says it now has "commercial services" in "a major US market" (as of January 2003) and national network deployments "underway" here and in Germany, Malaysia, and South Africa, "with additional countries expected to be announced soon."

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