Mitel has solidified its 5G wireless program, announced earlier this year, with participation in the initial round of funding of the newly created Ranzure Networks.
With $7.6 million in a seed round of funding from Mitel and other investors, including LiveOak Venture Partners, Ranzure Networks will license Mitel Mobile technology in the area of Evolved Packet Core to support service providers as they build 5G networks for the Internet of Things.
Worldwide 5G service revenue, driven by emerging mobile and cloud technologies, is projected to reach $247 billion in the next ten years, according to ABI Research.
“The pace of mobile adoption and innovation is unrelenting. At the same time our 4G mobile business is growing at record levels, we can already see the exciting opportunity for 5G to take services even further in the future,” said Rich McBee, CEO, Mitel. “Our investment in Ranzure Networks enables Mitel to keep tight focus on the immediate needs of our current mobile customers and positions us to capitalize on the 5G market opportunity as it evolves and emerges.”
Ranzure Networks founders include well-known serial mobile entrepreneur Pardeep Kohli, former Mavenir CEO, and Ashok Khuntia, former Mavenir EVP, Engineering. BG Kumar, president of Mitel Mobile, will take a seat on the board.
“The days of rigid, proprietary hardware solutions are over and the migration to 5G provides opportunity for innovation,” said Kohli. “We believe that satisfying varying needs of billions of devices now requires a flexible radio access network that is easy to deploy, operate and customize to meet the needs of each device. Ranzure will bring flexible cloud technologies to radio access networks.”
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