Shares in Ottawa’s DragonWave surged Wednesday afternoon on news the company will collaborate with Mitel on a 5G development project.
DragonWave shares traded as high as $5.48 before closing at $4.45, which was still up almost 37 per cent from the day before.
The collaboration announced Tuesday will see Mitel contribute its software and mobile network expertise while DragonWave will provide all outdoor networking expertise as well as small cell-focused and high-capacity, spectrally-efficient packet wireless backhaul solutions.
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The project, which falls under Mitel’s 5G Cloud Connectivity initiative announced in February, will focus on technology research at first with the “option to evolve commercially” as business opportunities develop in the 5G market, DragonWave said in a statement.
“Enabling increased coverage in both dense urban and rural environments while supporting the thrust for virtualization drives the need for new relationships,” DragonWave president and CEO Peter Allen said in a statement. “We are pleased to work closely with Mitel who has both scale and a common customer base. We share a focus to bring innovative solutions to the 5G mobile market.”
Mitel’s 5G cloud connectivity president, Pardeep Kohli, said 5G “opens the door” to a new way of developing mobile networks.
“This collaboration enables an integrated 5G solution set that will be easier to deploy, optimize and maintain,” he said in a statement.
DragonWave also announced Wednesday the launch of its new e-commerce store, accessible through the company’s homepage.
The company’s vice-president of product management, Greg Friesen, said the store will complement existing sales channels.
“In today’s competitive arena, mobile operators are faced with the challenge of providing reliable and outstanding service to their customers at a time when capacity demand is growing exponentially, making network maintenance and augmentation crucial to operational efficiency,” Mr. Friesen said in a statement.
The e-commerce store will help customers “quickly resolve network issues, turn up higher capacity service and ensure quality of service for their mobile users,” he added.
The launch falls in line with the “direct touch” approach Mr. Allen said the company would have with its customers after business generated through its Nokia channel dried up following the Finnish company’s acquisition of DragonWave competitor Alcatel-Lucent.
