Our Canadian readers will no doubt be all too aware that Mobilicity is a carrier that’s soon to be no more. After struggling consistently for the last year or more, the company is in the process of fading away from the market entirely. Recently, the company’s assets were put up for auction before the end of last year with a few caveats being set by the auction, chief among them being that bidders for the assets needed “a bona fide interest in an acquisition of the Assets” which would of course mean any wireless carrier in Canada right now. As such, Videotron, Quebecor, Wind and Telus have all placed bids for the ailing network.
Telus may be the winner, and could end up buying Mobilicity’s assets and such for $350 Million. Chief Restructuring Officer for Mobilicity, William Aziz said that the offer from Telus was the only one “determined to be an acceptable transaction” despite the fact that the $350 Million price is $30 Million lower than the one placed in June of last year. Telus however, is planning to make good use the company’s assets and that customers would be best taken care of through such a deal, detailing that they “will be able to seamlessly migrate onto TELUS’ advanced HSPA network after the transition.”
While it might not be the outcome that many fans of Mobilicity will have wanted, it seems to be the best one. After all, the company has tried long and hard to make sure a suitable buyer is found. Selling to Telus might seem like a failing, but Mobilicity doesn’t really have any other choice at this point, and leaving spectrum and more importantly, customers hanging in the wind would be a much worse outcome than this. Hopefully, Telus can make good use of the assets and that customers from Mobilicity will be well taken care of. It’s a shame to see it come to this, but it’s hard to break into a well established industry like this one, no matter how big or small you might be.