Alvarion buys ECI unit

Alvarion has bought fellow Israeli company InnoWave, the broadband fixed wireless business of ECI Telecom, for just under $10 million in cash.

The acquisition will give Alvarion, which already possessed a broad product line of broadband fixed wireless and 802.11 wireless LAN equipment, additional solutions in the wideband point-to-multipoint arena. InnoWave’s Wireless DSL products address most of the needs of small businesses and residences in developing countries.

The deal also “significantly increases” Alvarion’s ILEC customer base around the world and doubles its installed subscriber base to almost 1.5 million users, according to a statement from the company.

Alvarion plans to hire the majority of InnoWave’s employees, about 150, most of whom will be relocated from InnoWave’s base in Petach-Tikva, Israel, to Alvarion’s headquarters in Tel-Aviv.