Innowireless was founded on September 2000.  It was listed on the KOSDAQ of the Korea Stock Exchange on February 2005.

 

Innowireless develop and manufactures and sales of wireless network optimization products, network test and communication test instruments for optimizing mobile network quality worldwide.  Recently, the mobile communication service quality is improved through distributed processing of data traffic and the small cell solutions, which is a small footprint 4G and 5G small cell base station for 4G and 5G NR network infrastructure.

 

Although Innowireless is a small sized company, it maintains a strong dominant position in related market. It has no domestic competitors in South, Korea and has sales and technical support distribution regional branches in major cities throughout the world.

 

The wireless network optimization solution, which accounts for about half of the total sales, is a software based solutions that provides the performance of mobile communication wireless network  analysis and logging results per real user data.

 

While the user carries a laptop/terminal equipped with a wireless network optimization solution and moves to the area to be measured, the automatic test result send to cloud based server in real time, and the measured value is analyzed and provided. Based on the results, users get snap shot of the current status and problems such as base station equipment and services being developed and operated, and efficiently improve performance.

 

Test and Measurement (T&M) solutions has a high performance of 4G and 5G base station RF performance measurement that provides to improve the high efficiency and cost reduction in network operation and maintenance of mobile infrastructure, and enable to perform various mobile communication troubleshooting easily in a laboratory environment instead of commercially deployed environment.  

 

The base station measurement solution is a portable network measurement product for measuring the presence of an abnormality RF performance data in the base station and the status of its network performance.  Currently, it supplies self-developed portable 5G NR base station measurement equipment to domestic mobile operators.

 

The lab simulation and analysis solution virtually implements various external effects that can occur in an actual mobile communication environment from the field in a laboratory including Massive MIMO channel emulation, and enables automated tests with the generated various test scenarios. It is a product that contributes to strengthening the quality of mobile communication and further strengthening the overall competitiveness of the industry through test reliability.

 

Innowireless provided it’s solution to mobile carriers worldwide in the beginning of 5G commercial deployments starting in 2019 to 2020. Now, Innowireless is reaching aggressively to global markets.

 

The big data analysis solution provides mobile communication service providers with the results of real-time monitoring and analysis of data traffic generated in the 4G and 5G core network to improve mobile communication service quality.  Users can analyze and predict the status of the network they are operating in real time, and quickly identify various obstacles, including performance degradation, bottlenecks in data traffic, and solve those problems in near real-time. Innowireless R&D that combines next-generation technologies such as deep learning and artificial intelligence(AI), which can predict in trouble areas where abnormal symptoms or network quality problems are likely to occur in data flow, and prevent problems before happens.

 

Small cell solutions are the next-generation flagship business which has the greatest growth potential.  It is developed to provide mobile coverage especially  hard to reach location and indoor and distributing data coverage in areas where the traditional base stations can not cover due hard to reach those indoor locations with the air tight buildings result in poor in building coverage.

 

With close collaboration with KT, Innowireless provided the in building solution the world's first and largest 4G LTE small cell deployments starting in the metropolitan of Seoul in 2012. For 5G NR small cell planning to launch in the first half of 2021.

 

The small cell solution guarantees low cost and high performance with ease to install in various indoor and outdoor environment.  Considering the characteristics of 5G mobile communication technology, demand is expected to increase gradually. As 5G NR and technology maturity increase, it is expected to become an essential network component for efficient data traffic processing and minimization of transmission delays to support various 5G NR specific use cases.

 

Innowireless acquired the 5G NR small cell license from Qualcomm last year, and plans to complete the development of 5G small base products that support 5G Sub-6GHz and mmWave over 28GHz in the first half of 2021. The industry predicts that the proportion of small cell businesses will grow sharply starting this 2021.

 

Innowireless customers include mobile communication service providers, base station manufacturers, terminal manufacturers, and chipset manufacturers.

 

The flagship customers are SK Telecom, KT, LG Uplus, Samsung Electronics, and LG Electronics. Accuver, a subsidiary companies for an overseas sales organization, is operating sales and local technical support to more than 220 major customers in more than 50 countries around the world. Accuver have offices in the United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Poland and China. In India, which is emerging as an emerging market.  Accuver regional office has been successfully setup an overseas distribution network.  The major mobile operators such as Vodafone in the UK, O2, AT&T in the US, Verizon in the US, NTT DoCoMo in Japan, KDDI, Softbank Mobile, and network infrastructure companies such as Nokia in Finland, Ericsson in Sweden, and Huawei in China are some of flagship customers.

 

■ Strengths and Opportunities

 

◇Market characteristics and technological competitiveness

 

In the mobile communication test and measurement(T&M) solution, various types of high value-added products are produced according to customer requests through additional R&D according to changes in new technical standards and various operator’s requirements. Unlike a business that the hardware based mass-produces low-cost products, it minimizes the the risks including the hardware inventory.

 

Th high-performance T&M products are critical to adapt in the timely development to quickly reflecting changes in new technology standard and the operators environment.  R&D and highly skill engineering resource are are essential to enter the dynamic market.

 

Innowireless boasts unrivaled technical capabilities in this fields. It is proven that it has been solving the challenging communication test and measurement problem via developing high-end product lineup in timely manner. It has a number of the world's first product development and commercialization track records and the worldwide patent registrations, and has proven its technology by winning the South Korean presidential award.

 

In the telecommunications market, there is a demand for various types of performance tests throughout the entire process, from the development stage before commercialization of a new technology to the stage of commercialization, technology development, and maturity.  For performance testing, there are many cases where an engineer directly visits the site of an actual installed sites and option to virtually implements a lab environment. Innowireless provides a comprehensive performance testing solution for the field test and each component that can virtually implement a test environment to customers.

 

◇ 5G growth performance global network

 

In 2020, Innowireless 5G products sales accounted for half of the total sales worldwide.

 

The demand for test and measurement solutions such as wireless network optimization, communication T&M, and communication big data is expected to increase as the 5G network expands. Small cell solutions, which are expected to be an essential component in providing convergence services between different industries, have emerged as future growth engines.

 

The demand for small base is increasing for the optimized operation of 5G NR network, which stands for ultra-high speed, ultra-low latency, and ultra mass-connectivity. The target market is diversifying, not only to domestic and foreign mobile communication service providers, but also to network service providers who are able to operate specialized 5G NR networks according to their needs by using mobile communication frequencies according to the recent government decision.

 

Innowireless exports accounted for more than half of all consolidated sales. Accuver has a number of overseas customers and is supplying its own developed domestic solutions. Accuver has established a network with local operators with sales bases in the United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Poland and China. In India, which is emerging as a huge emerging market, it has established and operated Innowireless India', which provides technical support to local customers.

 

Weaknesses and Threats

 

◇ Global brand, balance between business sectors

 

Innowireless domestic market share and position are unrivaled. On the other hand, the global market share and recognition are still low. However, due to the recent growth of Accuver, it is overcoming such weaknesses.

 

An official from Innowireless said, Accuver has been around more than 10 years since its inception, its brand recognition have been strengthened to a level that can be shoulder-to-shoulder with its competitors as a major players in the global market.

 

Businesses other than wireless network optimization solutions tend to have uneven growth potential depending on the progress and stage of commercialization of mobile communication technology. The challenge is to resolve the imbalance between business divisions by securing future growth potential by revitalizing the small base market and diversifying product lineups.

 

■ Market comments 

 

◇Hana Financial Investment = Investors are highly interested in the timing of real 5G adoption through the evolution to IoT. Considering the available 5G frequencies, the launch and timing of 28GHz equipment will eventually lead to an increase in the share price of 5G infrastructure product stocks, and the 5G small cell supporting the Innowireless 28GHz band is expected to be the first to achieve results, raising expectations. In particular, considering the coverage, the 28GHz 5G small cell can be a good alternative in terms of utilization, so it is highly likely to focus the market's attention.

 

◇ Shinhan Investment Corp. = A recovery trend compared to the previous era is appearing in major overseas 5G early countries such as the United States and Europe. As its flagship product is base station and terminal test and measurement equipment, its main sales growth is large in the initial phase of 5G base station construction. It is expected that 5G investments by global telecommunications companies will resume in 2021, starting with the US spectrum auction. Major global manufacturers, including Apple and Samsung, continue to expand the launch of 5G smartphones. Focusing on large-scale small cell sales along with its flagship test and measurement equipment, 2021 is expected to be the first year of top-line growth.

 

◇ Leading Investment Securities = We forecast sales of 1167 billion won and operating profit of 19.4 billion won in 2021. New small cell orders from Japan and 4G small cell sales to Reliance Geo in India are expected to begin, and results to the US are also expected in the future. Orders are expected to be worth 10 to 20 billion won per operator, and long-term growth potential is also believed to be secured considering the demand for small cells in the high-frequency band in the future.