Ionica was a domestic telecoms provider based in Cambridge, UK, operating between 1995 and 1998. Founded in 1991, Ionica offered an alternative technology to British Telecom. The Ionica system used a microwave transmitter in order to provide the local loop, thus avoiding reliance on British Telecom for this final link to the consumer. The technology, known as Wireless local loop (WLL), was developed in partnership with Nortel. However, rising costs and limiting technical factors caused the company to cease trading in 1998.