July 06, 2006
Are VoIP IPOs The Way To Go?
Clearwire, a WiMax wireless broadband provider, may not be involved directly in VoIP, per se, but their value to the VoIP and IP telephony market is evidenced by the names of some of the investors that have pumped in cash. The company had originally filed with the SEC to go IPO, but nixed the IPO at the last moment.
Maybe they took a hard look at what Vonage has gone through these past couple of months and decided the market's too shaky to follow suit. Which makes me wonder if IPOs are the way for companies in fledgling technologies to go right now.
Wooing private investors might be the better alternative initially, especially if they have the best interests of the technology at heart. (And by "they", I mean both parties.) In the case of Clearwire, they did better financially by dropping the IPO, exceeding by 50% the amount of capital they had wanted to raise.
Now they have the committed capital they need to pursue their WiMax projects. (Is it surprising that Intel Capital is one of the investors, considering WiMax is an Intel creation?)
Had they gone public and the IPO tanked after a few days, given the current edgy marketplace, they would have had to hold back on several projects.
As I've mentioned, they are not in the VoIP market per se. However, VoIP over WiMax or WiBro is not a far-fetched concept, and would provide an infrastructure that might help push the use of VoIP. The fact that Bell Canada is an investor from an earlier round of financing suggests the importance of WiMax to telephony in general.
A look at Clearwire's USA coverage map shows pretty spotty coverage. So the recent private cash infusions are just what they need to expand their coverage area. If they could score some municipal Wi-Fi deals, the incoming revenue would push their expansion even faster.
Maybe, after a couple of years, when they actually have a positive balance sheet, they could consider going IPO - something VoIP providers and equipment makers may want to make note of. And maybe by then, Intel will team up with Samsung and scale WiMax up to WiBro.
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