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back to article Mobile phone mast-in-a-chip biz sells out for $50m

Mindspeed Technologies has agreed to buy UK femtocell leader Picochip for £33.4m ($51.9m), with more than half of that in cash, to help it jump into the burgeoning femtocell business. Picochip employs about 150 people, most of them at its Bath offices, and leads the world in squeezing femtocell technologies into single chips. …

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  1. pctechxp

    Wish I could buy one

    I'd really like to be able to buy one to improve the coverage around my home.

    Alas, only Vodafone supply them.

    Really not sure why the operators and GSMA haven't got it sorted so that I can buy one that just allows me to select the network and it'll do all the integration.

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    1. Josco
      Reply Icon

      This may help

      These chaps sell a booster product:

      http://www.mobilerepeatershop.com/

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  2. MrXavia
    Big Brother

    I've got a vodafone one, works OK, but takes ages (days!) to set itself up,

    They need to fix that issue before they become mainstream

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    While I would like better coverage at home...

    ...I don't know why I should pay Vodafone to cover their blackspots. Especially when they show the area as fine on their coverage maps.

    If they were available on other networks too, I'm sure the end user's price might come down, or even pay for using my broadband's bandwidth for their network.

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mast on a chip

    Are you sure, normally they are big and made out of galvanised steel. No all the stuff in the box at the bottom...

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    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Mast on a chip

      Apologies: Mobile phone mast controller-in-a-chip wasn't really going to fit as a headline.

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Given the company raised $100M in VC but sold for, at most, $50M it seems unlikely that the investors are really "happy with their position". Or perhaps losing only half your money is a Win these days?

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    1. Bill Ray (Written by Reg staff)
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      Re:

      They've raised more than $100m in VC cash, but have also sold a lot of licences for their chip designs in the last few years since then so while we don't have accounts for the company it would be wrong to assume it's still burning VC cash.

      The staff we spoke to were all pretty pleased with the result, the ones who had shareholdings at least.

      Bill.

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