Sequans Communications has reportedly raised a new round of capital from Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) and Motorola Ventures to fund its Long Term Evolution development program. Sequans recently entered into LTE, by stating its intention to develop LTE and WiMAX (News - Alert) semiconductor solutions in parallel.

 

A leading 4G chipmaker, Sequans Communications supplies LTE (News - Alert) and WiMAX chips to equipment manufacturers and mobile operators. According to Georges Karam, CEO of Sequans, the expansion into LTE has been part of Sequans’ long term strategy for about two years. Sequans’ experience with operators and OEMs combined with the knowledge base accumulated while developing WiMAX silicon, puts it in an excellent position to deliver semiconductor solutions for LTE.

 

Sequans will use the new funding to accelerate its LTE development timeline and also to add resources to its LTE teams. Sequans is planning to demonstrate its first LTE samples in early 2010 in support of pre-commercial operator trials.

 

According to Doug Wolff (News - Alert), vice president, end-to-end solutions at Alcatel-Lucent, LTE is a strategic investment area for Alcatel-Lucent. Sequans has demonstrated a high level of execution consistently over several years with the support of Alcatel-Lucent, delivering a steady stream of next generation solutions to the marketplace. Wolff said that Alcatel-Lucent’s collaboration with Sequans will successfully contribute to the development of a vibrant LTE TD-TDD device ecosystem.

 

Sequans plans to meet the needs of LTE equipment manufacturers with outstanding silicon and software solutions. The LTE team at Sequans will leverage its proven development methodology to deliver world-class LTE chips to this important market.

 

Motorola (News - Alert) Ventures is the investment arm of Motorola. Bruce Brda, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Wireless Networks, Home & Networks Mobility at Motorola has stated that the funding is further proof of Motorola’s commitment to the commercialization of LTE and expansion of its 4G ecosystem.

 

The solutions from Sequans Communications deliver unrivaled performance in coverage, capacity, functionality and power consumption. The company offers equipment manufacturers a chip solution for virtually every WiMAX application like building a range of WiMAX network components, femto, micro and macro base stations, outdoor and indoor subscriber terminals, home gateways, as well as all types of mobile devices. Sequans is an ISO 9001:2008 certified company.