Ionica was a domestic

telecoms Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

provider based in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, UK, operating between 1995 and 1998. Founded in 1991, Ionica offered an alternative technology to

British Telecom BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...

. The Ionica system used a

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ran ...

transmitter in order to provide the

local loop In telephony, the local loop (also referred to as the local tail, subscriber line, or in the aggregate as the last mile) is the physical link or circuit that connects from the demarcation point of the customer premises to the edge of the common ...

, thus avoiding reliance on British Telecom for this final link to the consumer. The technology, known as

Wireless local loop Wireless local loop (WLL), is the use of a wireless communications link as the " last mile / first mile" connection for delivering plain old telephone service (POTS) or Internet access (marketed under the term "broadband") to telecommunications c ...

( WLL), was developed in partnership with

Nortel Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in Montreal, Quebec, ...

. However, rising costs and limiting technical factors caused the company to cease trading in 1998.

Floatation

The company floated in July 1997 with shares initially trading at 390p. At its peak Ionica was valued at over one billion pounds, the first

Silicon Fen Silicon Fen (also known as the Cambridge Cluster) is the name given to the region around Cambridge, England, which is home to a large business cluster, cluster of high-tech businesses focusing on software, electronics and biotechnology, s ...

company to reach that value.

Goals and technical limitations

The company’s initial aim was to take twenty percent of the domestic market with offers such as multiple ringing tones and a free second line but the technology used proved to be limited, with heavy rain and local radio transmissions interfering with calls. Despite the technology having been used with great success in remote areas of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, it proved to be unsuitable in a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

urban setting. In particular the technology used spectrum at 3.5 GHz, which limited line-of-sight range to the base station and was narrowband, which meant it could not provide broadband Internet access.

Failure

First signs that Ionica was in trouble came when expansion plans were put on hold in an attempt to improve service and add much needed capacity in existing markets such as

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

The Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

and

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

. By March 1998 the company was looking to bring in an outside

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some specie ...

and shortly after failed to agree terms with existing investors for the £300 million debts already accumulated. By August 1998 Ionica had failed to find a 'strategic partner', and despite strong assurances that cash resources of £45 million would keep the company

solvent A solvent (s) (from the Latin '' solvō'', "loosen, untie, solve") is a substance that dissolves a solute, resulting in a solution. A solvent is usually a liquid but can also be a solid, a gas, or a supercritical fluid. Water is a solvent for ...

until January 1999 many observers predicted its imminent demise.

Into administration

On Thursday 29 October 1998

administrators Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * N ...

were called in. The company's assets were valued at £250 million. The following Monday 2 November 1998 the administrators made around half of the company's 1,200 staff redundant. The administration process was finally wound up in March 2009.RIP Cambridge wireless firm Ionica bequeaths 43m pounds
Business Weekly, 4 March 2009.

Customer migration and end of service

From December 1998 onwards Ionica's 62,000 customers were gradually migrated to British Telecom with special prices being offered to support their move. In the meantime BT supported Ionica financially, allowing customers to continue using their telephones. Service finally ceased on 28 February 1999.

Former headquarters

The former Ionica building was constructed in 1994 and is located on St John’s Innovation Park, adjacent to the A14. Despite an apparently desirable location the building remained vacant for much of the time since the demise of Ionica.

CSR plc CSR plc (formerly Cambridge Silicon Radio) was a multinational fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Its main products were connectivity, audio, imaging and location chips. CSR was listed on the London Stoc ...

moved into the building in May 2007.

References

External links

From the Internet Archive
{{Telecommunications industry in the United Kingdom Defunct telecommunications companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1991 British companies disestablished in 1998 Telecommunications companies established in 1991 Telecommunications companies disestablished in 1998 1991 establishments in England 1998 disestablishments in England