Cisco boosts its mobile services with $310m acquisition of small-cell maker Ubiquisys

Cisco has announced a deal to buy UK-based small-cell specialist Ubiquisys for $310 million as it expand its offering of intelligent services for wireless service providers.

The deal is slated to close before August — when Cisco reports its fourth quarter fiscal 2013 results — and the company will pay cash and retention-based incentives as part of the deal. The Ubiquisys team will be integrated into Cisco’s service provider mobility group.

The US networking giant says that its acquisition of Swindon-based Ubiquisys will help strengthen its mobility business by enabling service providers and operators to enjoy better quality-of-service for their mobile Internet network in indoor locations.

The small-cell network technology that Ubiquisys develops helps improve mobile Internet services for devices indoors by delivering a strong signal across a short range. That boost helps improve voice and data service, allowing customer to enjoy a better experience and operators to get more from their network.

Here’s a brief overview of how the small-cell technology works. You can read more here.

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Ubiquisys works with operators by providing its cell networks, hardware platforms, delivery systems and providing small-cell/femtocell consultancy and advice.

“As mobile service providers around the world increase voice and data capacity to serve the rapidly growing use of Internet-enabled devices, offloading traffic to small-cell networks is a cost-effective way to increase capacity and make better use of spectrum assets,” the Cisco announcement explains.

Cisco explains that, with its existing mobile services and experience with Wi-Fi networks, the addition of Ubiquisys will help strengthen the “intelligence layer” that it provides across wireless networks for service providers.

“Cisco is ‘doubling down’ on its small-cell business to accelerate strong momentum and growth in the mobility market,” said Kelly Ahuja, senior vice president and general manager, Cisco Mobility Business Group. “By acquiring Ubiquisys, we are expanding on our current mobility leadership and our end-to-end product portfolio.”

ABI Research recently ranked Ubiquisys as the industry’s top small cell and it figures that an industry giant like Cisco has taken a strong interest in the company and what it does.

Here’s a more detailed look at what the company does.

Headline image via Justin Sullivan/Getty