EION receives funding for wireless IPTV for rural Brazil

EION Receives Funding from ISTPCanada for Bilateral Technology Collaboration for Advancing IPTV in Brazil; EION Seizes the Opportunity to Supply the World with Novel Wireless Technology and Capitalize on $1.3 Billion Global Market Opportunity

OTTAWA Canada — EION Wireless, a Canadian manufacturer of broadband wireless products today announced that it has received a funding award from International Science and Technology Partnerships Canada (ISTPCanada) to create new solutions that enable the provision of reliable, high-quality wireless multimedia services to rural communities in Brazil. As a participant in the Canada-Brazil R&D program managed by ISTPCanada, EION is partnering with Quest in Santa Catarina, Brazil on the development of new wireless products that support the delivery of cost-effective television and multimedia services over the Internet in under-developed environments. This bilateral R&D project will accelerate EION’s technology development; expand its product portfolio, and facilitate its entry into Brazil and other emerging global markets.

“This Canada-Brazil R&D partnership underscores the value of global technology partnerships for companies such as EION Wireless, and Canada more broadly,” said Dr. Henri Rothschild, President and CEO of ISTPCanada. “This alliance will accelerate the joint development, marketing and sale of novel Canadian wireless technology in the tenth fastest growing economy in the world. We are proud to support EION’s entry into this market – and the future commercial activity this bilateral R&D collaboration will generate.”

Dr. Anand Srinivasan, EION’s VP of Technology and Product Management, emphasizes the many economic benefits this project will deliver to Canada. “In addition to new revenues that increase the profitability of our firm, we expect to create several new jobs over the next three years to meet the anticipated demand for this wireless solution. With continual growth in the number of people watching television, movies and sporting events on handheld devices, we have a unique opportunity to supply novel Canadian technology to these users. ISTPCanada served as the catalyst for this initiative. It provided essential funding and a highly productive partnership approach that will enable us to create new products, jobs and revenue streams that benefit Canada.”

EION and Quest aim to provide high quality and low latency multimedia services over a wireless network where broadband capabilities are currently not available. EION will develop the wireless products while Quest tests the technology and creates deployment scenarios in developing regions of Brazil. To deliver highly reliable wireless multimedia services in the unlicensed band, EION will employ its TrustLink technology to mitigate the harmful effects of interference. The companies will implement the new solution across Brazil by the end of 2013 – just in time for the World Cup.

The new wireless products that emerge from this bilateral R&D project will address the needs of rural communities, and account for their challenging conditions. The team will also ensure that the products are easy to deploy and highly cost effective to optimize uptake in Brazil, as well as other nations in Latin America and the Asia Pacific region. Once developed, EION aims to market the wireless products in a host of other emerging economies.