Boston Pops

Boston Communications (BCGI Quote) doubled Friday after the wireless back-office shop settled a patent dispute that had threatened to drag it into bankruptcy court.

The Bedford, Mass., company agreed to pay $55 million to settle a patent suit brought by Freedom Wireless. The dispute centered on a prepaid wireless billing system Boston has sold to big carriers like Cingular.

A court ruling in 2005 handed Freedom a $128 million damage award. Boston said at the time that the ruling could put it out of business if upheld.

"In terms of prepaid subscribers served, this license agreement makes bcgi the largest Freedom Wireless licensee," CEO E.Y. Snowden said. "We believe that the protection this license affords our customers will allow future pricing to accommodate the cost of the royalties. With our license of these patents, and our industry leading real-time billing features, performance and flexibility, we look forward to reinforcing our prepaid wireless leadership as the segment continues to grow." ...