Cohere Technologies Inc., which works with phone companies to send more data through existing communications infrastructure, raised $46 million valuing the startup at about $500 million.
Airwaves or “spectrum” rights are the scarcest resource in wireless technology, akin to land in construction. With data usage skyrocketing, limited airwave access can act as a bottleneck, making them extremely valuable. Carriers have paid the U.S. government almost $100 billion for the rights to use certain 5G frequencies.
