WiLAN Announces 2010 Results and 2011 Guidance

OTTAWA, CANADA--(Marketwire - Feb. 10, 2011) - Wi-LAN Inc. ("WiLAN" or the "Company") (TSX:WIN), a leading technology innovation and licensing company, today announced the Company's financial guidance for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2011 and provided preliminary financial results for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010.

With the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") as Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP") used by Canadian publicly accountable enterprises, effective for the fiscal year beginning January 1, 2011, WiLAN will change to reporting its financial results in United States dollars. As such, the financial amounts provided in the guidance for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2011 are in U.S. dollars. All dividend amounts are expressed in Canadian dollars. For comparison purposes, preliminary financial results for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010 are provided in both Canadian and U.S. dollars.

2011 Financial Guidance

Revenues for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2011 are expected to be in the range of $110.0 million to $115.0 million, more than double the expected revenues of fiscal 2010. Operating expenses, excluding stock-based compensation, depreciation & amortization and unrealized gains or losses on foreign exchange contracts, all non-cash charges, are expected to be in the range of $33.0 million to $38.0 million. Adjusted Earnings* are expected to be in the range of $75.0 million to $80.0 million.

WiLAN's Board of Directors intends to double the annual eligible dividend to $0.10 from the current $0.05 per common share. It is expected that the first increased dividend will be the dividend declared in conjunction with the release of the Company's fiscal 2010 audited financial results on March 2, 2011.

"WiLAN has emerged from a very exciting period in our history as a much stronger company," said Jim Skippen, Chairman & CEO. "License agreements signed in recent weeks will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and contribute to a dramatic improvement in our bottom line performance in coming years. The doubling of our dividend signals WiLAN's improved financial strength and the confidence we have in the future of our business."

Added Skippen, "While we are proud of what we have accomplished to date, the WiLAN team intends to continue to work hard to grow our revenues aggressively. We have many licensing programs that will contribute to this future revenue growth including programs to license cable products, Bluetooth products, unlicensed base stations and handsets, the unlicensed portion of the Wi-Fi market and products using V-Chip to name several. We are confident that WiLAN's future will be just as exciting as its recent past."

Preliminary Fiscal 2010 Financial Results

Preliminary revenues for fiscal 2010 are 50.7 million Canadian dollars representing an increase from the previous guidance of 46.0 million to 48.0 million Canadian dollars. With higher than forecasted litigation costs, preliminary operating expenses for 2010, excluding stock-based compensation, depreciation & amortization, unrealized gains or losses on foreign exchange contracts and certain other one-time charges, are 46.4 million Canadian dollars representing an increase from the previous guidance of 41.0 million to 44.0 million Canadian dollars. Preliminary Adjusted Earnings for fiscal 2010 are 5.0 million Canadian dollars, meeting previous guidance of 5.0 million to 7.0 million Canadian dollars.

To assist the reader in comparing 2011 financial guidance with preliminary 2010 financial results, fiscal 2010 revenues are 49.2 million U.S. dollars. Preliminary operating expenses for fiscal 2010 are 45.2 million U.S. dollars. Preliminary fiscal 2010 Adjusted Earnings are 4.7 million U.S. dollars.

Preliminary fiscal 2010 results released today may differ from the corporation's audited fiscal 2010 financial results, which WiLAN expects to release on March 2, 2011. 

The above statements providing financial guidance are forward-looking and actual results may differ materially. The "Forward-looking Information" section at the end of this news release provides information on various risks and uncertainties that the Company faces. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's business are contained under the heading "Risk Factors" in WiLAN's current Annual Information Form and its other filings with the various Canadian securities regulators which are available online at www.sedar.com. Annual financial guidance for fiscal 2011 is provided to assist investors and other interested parties in understanding WiLAN's performance. The reader is cautioned that using this information for any other purpose may be inappropriate.

The majority of the Company's revenues result from the licensing of intellectual property which, by its very nature, is directly affected by the timing of the closure of license agreements, the nature and extent of specific licenses including actual rates, product sales by licensees which can be subject to seasonality as well as overall market demands and the timeliness of the receipt of licensee royalty reports. In addition, certain revenues may be of a one-time nature. Thus, quarter-to-quarter fluctuations in revenue are normal and should be expected. Management believes that the strength of its business should be measured by annual revenues.

The above guidance for the twelve month period ending December 31, 2011, reflects our current business indicators and expectations and is subject to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. Due to their nature, certain income and expense items, such as significant settlements from companies involved in current enforcement actions, new significant litigation or defense actions that could arise during the course of the year, losses on asset impairments or realized foreign exchange losses cannot be accurately forecast. Accordingly, we exclude forecasts of such items from our guidance. WiLAN's imperative is to negotiate the best possible license as measured over the long-term and accordingly, the timing of actual license signings may vary from that forecasted. Actual results may vary materially from the guidance provided as a consequence of the above noted factors.

Conference Call Information – February 10, 2011 – 11 AM EST

WiLAN will host a business update conference call today at 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST). WiLAN CEO, Jim Skippen, will be on the call.

Calling Information

A live audio webcast will be available at

http://www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=163364.

• To access the call from Canada and U.S., dial 1.877.407.0778 (Toll Free)
• To access the call from other locations, dial 201.689.8565 (International)

Replay Information

The call will be available at http://www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=163364

and accessible by telephone until 11:59 PM EST on February 17, 2011.

Replay Number (Toll Free): 1.877.660.6853

Replay Number (International): 1.201.612.7415

Replay passcodes (both required for playback)

• Account #: 286
• Conference ID #: 366807

About WiLAN

WiLAN, founded in 1992, is a leading technology innovation and licensing company. WiLAN has licensed its intellectual property to over 240 companies worldwide. Inventions in our portfolio have been licensed by companies that manufacture or sell a wide range of communication and consumer electronics products including 3G cellular handsets, Wi-Fi-enabled laptops, Wi-Fi/DSL routers, xDSL infrastructure equipment, WiMAX base stations and digital television receivers. WiLAN has a large and growing portfolio of more than 1100 issued or pending patents. For more information: www.wilan.com.

Note

* WiLAN follows GAAP in preparing its interim and annual financial statements. The Company has now adopted the term Adjusted Earnings instead of Pro forma Earnings which has been used in previous years, although the Company's definition of Adjusted Earnings remains the same as its definition of Pro forma Earnings, being earnings from continuing operations before stock-based compensation, unrealized gain or loss on foreign exchange contracts, depreciation & amortization, provision for income taxes and certain other one-time charges. Adjusted Earnings is a non-GAAP financial term. 

Forward-looking Information

Certain statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, may include forward-looking information that involves various risks and uncertainties that face the Company; such statements may contain such words as "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, and may be based on management's current assumptions and expectations related to all aspects of the wireless and wireline telecommunications industries and the global economy. 

Risks and uncertainties that may face the Company include, but are not restricted to: licensing of the Company's patents can take an extremely long time and may be subject to variable cycles; the Company is currently reliant on licensees paying royalties under existing licensing agreements and additional licensing of its patent portfolio to generate future revenues and increased cash flows; the Company's revenues may fluctuate based on individual licensees' growth and success rates in their respective markets, the impact of seasonality and other market factors on individual licensees' businesses and other factors outside of the Company's control; the Company's revenues can vary significantly from quarter to quarter depending upon the type of royalty agreement with licensees, the timing of royalty reporting by licensees and fluctuations in foreign currency; the Company may be required to establish the enforceability of its patents in court in order to obtain material licensing revenues; changes in patent laws or in the interpretation or application of patent laws could materially adversely affect the Company; a court may determine that certain of the Company's patents are not infringed by certain standards or products or may disagree with management with respect to whether one or more of the Company's patents apply to certain standards or products, which could adversely affect the Company; certain of the Company's patents are, and others may be, subject to administrative proceedings that could invalidate or limit the scope of those patents; the Company will need to acquire or develop new patents to continue and grow its business; fluctuations in foreign exchange rates impact and may continue to impact the Company's revenues and operating expenses, potentially adversely affecting financial results; the Company has made and may make acquisitions of technologies or businesses which could materially adversely affect the Company; the Company may require investment to translate its intellectual property position into sustainable profit in the market; the generation of future V-Chip revenues and the likelihood of the Company signing additional V-Chip licenses could be negatively impacted by changes in government regulation; the Company is dependent on its key officers and employees; the price of the Company's common shares is volatile and subject to market fluctuation; and the Company may be negatively affected by reduced consumer spending due to the uncertainty of economic and geopolitical conditions. 

These risks and uncertainties may cause actual results to differ from information contained in this release, when estimates and assumptions have been used to measure, predict and/or report results. There can be no assurance that any statements of forward-looking information contained in this release will prove to be accurate. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. These and all subsequent written and oral statements containing forward-looking information are based on the estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. Except as required by applicable laws, the Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements should circumstances or management's estimates or opinions change. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any statements of forward-looking information that speak only as of the date of this release. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's business are contained under the heading "Risk Factors" in WiLAN's current Annual Information Form and its other filings with the various Canadian securities regulators which are available online at www.sedar.com.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in the United States.

All trademarks and brands mentioned in this release are the property of their respective owners.