Angling for a chunk of the North American IPTV market, Ericsson has purchased PON specialist Entrisphere, a young company whose staff is dotted with people who came from one corner or another of the old Bell system.
Neither company revealed a price, but analysts from Sweden have been quoted speculating that the deal might fetch anywhere between $250 million and $300 million.
The two companies have been working together, but by buying Entrisphere, Ericsson gets to bring in-house its junior partner’s portfolio of fiber- and IP-based broadband access products, including new gigabit PON (GPON) technology.
The move shores up Ericsson’s competitive position against the likes of Alcatel-Lucent and Motorola. In North America, the IPTV account everyone is chasing is, of course, AT&T.
Entrisphere says it has worked with “major operators.” Among Entrisphere’s few announced customers are Telephone & Data Systems and Grande Communications.