The ailing Canadian carrier Mobilicity might be about to leave the market altogether. Mobilicity once offered Canadians a choice outside of the big three, Rogers, TELUS and Bell but, things haven’t gone well for the company. Needless to say, the Canadian wireless market is not only crowded but dominated by the big three. Mobilicity, with its 190,000 or so subscribers simply cannot compete and the writing has been on the wall for some time now. TELUS have tried, and failed, to purchase the carrier and its spectrum and even Verizon has tried to get in on part of the action, which even sparked an IndieGoGo campaign.
The carrier’s CEO has recently departed, leaving the role to their Chief Customer Office and now, it doesn’t look there’s a way back for the carrier. A recent court document reveals that Mobilicity is planning to auction off their assets to the highest bidders. Whether or not this means that TELUS will finally get their hands on the company’s spectrum is unclear. However, the court document reveals that eligible bidders must meet these three requirements:
- (i) has a bona fide interest in an acquisition of the Assets;
- (ii) has delivered all of the Participation Materials prior to the Participation Deadline; and
- (iii) has the financial capability
Those requirements hint that only those that have any business purchasing the type of assets Mobilicity have can bid. Which, as you guessed it, means TELUS, Bell, Rogers and perhaps even Verizon. While we doubt Verizon would want to buy assets without any infrastructure, TELUS and Co. could buy it up and do what they like with it. It’s a shame to see the company go like this but, there’s not much more that can be done. With a relatively small customer base and an extremely competitive market to contend with, it’s hardly a surprise that Mobilicity is fading away.
As MobileSyrup is reporting, there’s a clause in the court documents that states an interested party could “offer to purchase some or all of the assets on terms and conditions reasonably acceptable” which means that if an agreement is reached, Mobilicity could be sold in its entirety.