Mobilicity has been in the news forefront for the past few months…they are under not only the court’s protection; this is their seventh extension that will last until December 1. They are now they are asking for another extension until January 31, 2015 to give them more time to find a buyer. The last time they received their current extension, subscribers were increasing and topped the 156,300 mark, their churn rate was low, and they were easily paying their bills. Then they made changes by only offering month-to-month plans to their existing and new customers, which apparently are causing some changes – they dropped down to 154,900 subscribers and their “customer churn was approximately ten percent lower (4%) in October 2014 than the average churn during July through September 2014.”
In pleading their case to the courts, Mobilicity said they “been engaged in discussions with several parties who have expressed interest in advancing a transaction involving the Applicants.” In other words, they are having discussions with possible buyers, which would make the Canadian Government very happy, as they try to take the Big Three – Rogers, Bell and TELUS – to the new and improved, Big Four. They believe that another major player is needed to force more competition among the carriers and in return, the customers will benefit with lower prices.
Earlier this week, we wrote about one of Mobilicity’s largest creditors, Newton Glassman’s Catalyst Capital Group, spearheading the move to finance Mobilicity’s bid for additional 2500Mhz wireless spectrum in April, 2015. They believe that increasing their spectrum would add more value to the company, making Mobilicity more attractive for purchasing. They would like to see one of Canada’s largest upstart carriers, WIND Mobile, to take over Mobilicity, or possibly Quebecor, to form a larger carrier.
In order to help increase their subscribers, Mobilicity is offering some very deep discounts for Black Friday and Saturday this year. They cut their basic plan by $10 a month, so for $25 a month, you can get Unlimited Talk, Text and Data – this is Friday only and “is valid for as long as a customer’s account is in good standing.” On Saturday, you can get $16 off their $45 plan, so for only $29 a month you can get Unlimited Talk, Text and Data, along with North American Long Distance, Voicemail, Global Text and even 30 minutes of Roaming. It will be interesting to see how their plan to increase customers works.
Please hit us up on our Google+ Page and let us know if you are in favor of a fourth large carrier in Canada and do you believe that it will foster more competition and lower prices for you as a subscriber…as always, we would love to hear from you.