Taking a cue from its Qualcomm roots, NextWave Wireless is looking to build a wireless broadband network based on technology it calls WiMAXplus. If successful, the network may only work with chips that contain proprietary NextWave technology. So if other companies built devices that used the wireless network, licensing revenue would flow to NextWave, which has adopted “Living In Motion” and “Anytime. Anywhere.” as slogans for its service.

NextWave was founded by Allen Salmasi, who joined Qualcomm in 1988 and led the OmniTRACs division (satellite tracking of trucks) that provided the cash to keep the Q in business while it proved that its CDMA would work for mobile communications. Salmasi left Qualcomm in 1994, but failed in an effort to build a national CDMA network. He did, after lengthy court battles, profit from the spectrum he had locked up in government auctions. Verizon paid the company $2.6 billion last year for the spectrum, with the proceeds distributed to investors, including Salmasi. From the proceeds he built his new company which owns the spectrum that WiMAXplus would operate on.

Based in San Diego, NextWave Wireless’ local connections run strong. Last summer it bought one of San Diego’s home-grown digital darlings, PacketVideo, a firm that leads the industry in figuring out how to get video transmissions down to a manageable size for viewing on a mobile device. PacketVideo remains based here and its technology is probably part of your cellphone. One day, the portable communications device you carry may have WiMAXplus in its innards.