LONDON—It looks like Florida-based xG Technology Inc. is ramping up for a $56.9 million IPO on the London stock exchange.
Though the company wouldn’t confirm reports about its initial public offering plans, rumor has it that xG is roadshowing its wireless Voice over Internet Protocol technology called xMax to investors and expects to be listed in early November.
In mid-July, xG announced it was considering applications from parties interested in operating its technology, with the first systems expected to be up and running in the first quarter of 2007.
Using single-cycle modulation to deliver longer range and lower power RF communications, xG said its patented xMax base-station technology works in the 900 MHz band but is also suited to work within other bands. xMax is designed to deliver three times the range of other wireless technologies with comparable power and antenna height, xG touted.
The company said its proprietary modulation method differs from conventional approaches where tens to hundreds of thousands of RF cycles are required to convey a single bit of information. With each additional cycle representing more RF power, the company says its technology reduces the amount of cycles, thus power, needed to transmit signals. The result is power-efficient RF transmission, which is important for battery-operated mobile devices.
Chris Whitely, vice president of communications at xG, said the company’s strategy includes “regional Internet service providers, CLECs, local communications carriers and entrepreneurs that can operate xMax networks within exclusive territories.”
In late March, privately held xG announced that its first consumer product, a VoIP handset, would be available by the end of this year and that the device would work with low-cost xMax-enabled base stations. The handsets are expected to be dual-mode, equipped with both xMax and Wi-Fi chips, enabling users to roam into areas not covered by the xMax network of base stations.
In addition, xG said the handsets would include Ethernet jacks so that users can plug into data networks for fixed-line VoIP calling.
The company held its first public demonstration of xMax technology for media and investors in November in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. In that demonstration, an xMax-equipped transmitter broadcast a 3.67 megabit-per-second signal more than 18 miles using only 35 milliwatts of RF output power.
The Federal Communications Commission has approved the equipment used in the November demonstration, and in February xG hired the London office of Credit Suisse as a strategic adviser for the company’s technology launch.
Frank Peake, head of sales and marketing at xG, said initial offerings will target fixed-line VoIP users, untethering them from their landline connections.
