Mobilicity lost out on its chances of a rescue from either Telus or Verizon, and there's now talk that the ailing Canadian carrier has run out of options. The Financial Post claims that Wind Mobile has nearly completed a deal to acquire Mobilicity's cellular subscribers for little to no cash. Mobilicity would only hold on its wireless spectrum and tax losses in the hopes of selling those separately. Neither of the involved companies has commented on the rumor. However, any handover would be relatively painless; when the two carriers have similar coverage and frequency support, customers almost wouldn't notice the difference.
[Image credit: Andrew Currie, Flickr]
Via: MobileSyrup
Source: Financial Post
After flying into Canada and making noise about acquiring spectrum or buying operators Wind Mobile and Mobilicity, Verizon is taking its ball and going home. You might expect that's because it just dropped $130 billion buying Vodafone's 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless -- the largest US corporate acquisition in over a decade. But Verizon said it had more to do with "what kind of value we could get for shareholders," and that "if we thought it had great value creation we would do it." That might be a boost to Rogers, Telus and BCE in Canada, but Verizon's withdrawal doesn't change one fact: all three are still bidding for a single block of 700MHz spectrum in next year's wireless auction.
Filed under: Wireless, Verizon
Source: Bloomberg
Verizon's insatiable appetite for spectrum is legendary. The company's most recently been eyeing Canada's valuable 700MHz airwaves and even shown interest in acquiring troubled carriers Wind Mobile and Mobilicity. (Especially after the CRTC rejected Telus's attempt to purchase the latter.) The Globe and Mail now reports that VZW's chosen to delay its potential acquisitions of the two carriers until after next year's 700MHz auction and that the US company is considering a bid for the spectrum directly. It's unclear if Verizon is attempting to buy time, trying to push the price of the struggling operators down or simply losing interest in the Canadian market. One thing's for sure -- if the company bids in the auction it won't be able to negotiate any deals with other applicants until next year.
[Image credit: Andrew Currie, Flickr]
Filed under: Wireless, Mobile, Verizon
Via: Reuters
Source: The Globe and Mail
You'd think a carrier takeover funded by the proletariat would have to be hostile, right? Heck, no. Canadian Valya Michael loves Mobilicity, all the way from its headquarters down to its little cell towers, and he fears a serious loss of commercial competition if the embattled company should fail. So he's started a $400,000,000 campaign (in the northern currency, that is) to buy it out, clear its debts and invest in better coverage and customer service. We have no idea what Indiegogo, Mobilicity or the telecoms regulator will do if the funding target is achieved, but they all have plenty of time to draft a response seeing as the current total stands at $213. Meanwhile, the fate of that other big Indiegogo project seems almost as uncertain.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Via: The Next Web, @WhatTheBit
Source: Indiegogo
Ever since Telus dropped its plans to acquire Mobilicity, there have been rumors of other would-be suitors joining the fray. They're not rumors anymore -- Mobilicity has confirmed that it's in talks with "multiple parties" interested in a takeover. The Canadian carrier isn't supplying any names, although previous gossip has mentioned Verizon as a possible candidate. There's no guarantee that Mobilicity will find a buyer and avoid an otherwise uncertain future; even so, we wouldn't count on the provider remaining independent for much longer.
[Image credit: Andrew Currie, Flickr]
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Verizon
Via: Reuters
Source: Mobilicity
Verizon's curiosity about entering the Canadian market could represent more than just a brief fascination: Reuters claims that Big Red has made a "tentative" bid for Wind Mobile. While the exact price would depend on what Verizon finds in Wind's accounting books, the estimated value ranges from $600 million to $800 million. Neither party is commenting on the rumor, although Verizon may still be open to alternative deals -- it supposedly approached Mobilicity about a potential acquisition. Verizon will likely need permission from both the Canadian government and Vodafone to make any takeover attempt official, but the reported bidding suggests that the company is willing to brave the gauntlet for some 700MHz spectrum and a presence up North.
Filed under: Wireless, Mobile, Verizon
Via: Phone Arena
Source: Reuters
Telus' bid to acquire Mobilicity was primarily a play for more spectrum, and the Canadian government's obligation to block the related frequency deal largely killed the merger's reason for being. However, the carrier isn't fighting that fatal setback to the bitter end, AT&T-style -- instead, it's backing out entirely. That's undoubtedly a relief for Canucks wanting a competitive cellular marketplace, although we wouldn't cheer too loudly. Mobilicity was partly hoping the deal would eliminate its financial woes, and it now has to fend for itself once again. There's also no guarantee that we'll avoid an eventual repeat: it could be open season on Mobilicity when there's no longer a moratorium on spectrum transfers.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Via: MobileSyrup
Source: Canada Newswire
Oh, Canada. Just one day after we received word of the CRTC's new wireless code, Industry Canada -- its government's equivalent of the FCC -- announced further postponements of the country's pending 700MHz spectrum auction. Already delayed from the first half of this year to November, IC is pushing the auction back yet another two months to January 14th, 2014, while the application deadline has been reset for September 17th of this year. The main reason for the setback? This morning, the government denied Telus' request to transfer AWS spectrum from Mobilicity -- one of the most important factors in the potential merger of the two networks. As a result, IC decided to allow more time for the affected companies to figure out what to do next; more than likely, Telus will need the extra two months to pull an AT&T and rethink its acquisition strategy. Read the release below for a few more details behind the rationale.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Via: MobileSyrup (1), (2)
Source: Marketwire