Telegent: Free-to-air broadcast TV mobile operator files for an IPO

Posted Nov 24th 2009 12:40PM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Products and Services, Initial Public Offerings

It's a megatrend: the convergence of mobile devices and broadcast television. Keep in mind that worldwide sales of mobile phones hit 1.3 billion last year. Moreover, the growth should continue, especially in emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East, South America and even Africa. Thus, by delivering TV on mobile devices, the media industry can greatly expand its market.

But, there is a need for some critical technologies. And one of the leaders in the arena is Telegent Systems, which has filed to go public this week.

Founded in 2004, Telegent is a fabless semiconductor company that creates RF and mixed-signal system-on-a-chip solutions. Essentially, the technologies allow for analog free-to-air broadcasts on mobile devices (by having such things as RF tuners, decoders, video processing and so on). This is no easy feat given the small form factor and limited capabilities of mobile devices.

There is even a hybrid chip, which supports digital free-to-air broadcast. In fact, Telegent meets the broadcast TV standards for about 93% of the world's population.

All in all, the growth for the company has been rapid. Every week, Telegent sells about one million units. By fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, revenues hit $123.9 million, up 150% over the past year. Moreover, the company has been profitable for the past nine quarters.

The lead underwriters on the IPO include Goldman Sachs (GS) and JPMorgan (JPM).

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook.

Tags: inthenews, IPOs, Telegent