US-based vendor Pivotal Commware closed a $102 million Series-D funding round, plotting to use the investment to drive increased mmWave fixed wireless access (FWA) coverage for mobile operators.
The company stated the capital will be used to invest aggressively in Pivotal Turnkey, a platform for operators to deploy FWA services.
Pivotal board member Glenn Lurie said mmWave is key to meeting growing demand for data, noting nations’ “economic success and social development will require widespread access to the internet”.
The company explained it pushes mmWave signals beyond line-of-sight by employing repeaters to retransmit mobile signals.
Pivotal’s Series-D round was led by Gates Frontier and Tracker Capital, along with funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group and Blue Investment Group.
Existing investors Verizon Ventures, Devonshire Investors, Thermo Companies, DIG Investment and Lux Capital also participated.
The company quoted Mobile Experts chief analyst Joe Madden, who predicted mmWave customer premise equipment used for FWA will almost double over the next 12 months and treble over the next four years.
Lurie praised Verizon’s FWA efforts, a noteworthy comment by an executive best known for once leading AT&T’s mobile efforts.
Verizon was an early adopter of Pivotal’s holographic beamforming technology and Lurie argued the operator’s “leadership in 5G and mmWave in particular” positioned it and the vendor “for sustained success”.
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