Mobilicity was not the only wireless telecom carrier in Canada that was up for sale, as another wireless startup Public Mobile was also looking to wind up its business in the country. After finally completing all legal formalities, Public Mobile was able to find not one but two buyers, as two private equity firms have jointly acquired the startup that maintains a subscriber base of 199,000 users. The name of the two companies which have got hold of Public Mobile are Cartesian Capital, based in New York and Thomvest Seed Capital Inc., headquartered in Toronto. The two equity firms have made this deal with a goal to comply with the efforts of Ottawa to boost real competition in the wireless market of the region.
On this occasion, the founder and chief executive officer of Public Mobile, Alek Krstajic said in a statement that, “The support of Thomvest and Cartesian enables Public Mobile to continue the rapid expansion of our subscriber base from a strong and well-funded position.”
The new owners of Public Mobile were also pretty pleased with the current position of the telecom carrier in the region and they are eagerly looking forward to the upcoming auction of national spectrum. Managing Director of Thomvest, Stefan Clulow said, “We are pleased to partner with Cartesian and the Public Mobile team to pursue this opportunity.”
Adding to it, a Partner at Cartesian, Paul Pizzani said that, “In the coming months, the Canadian wireless industry will see consolidation, and an important spectrum auction. Public Mobile is well-positioned to grow in scale by pursuing these consolidation opportunities and by bidding for national spectrum in the 700 MHz auction.”
The two equity firms have made announcement of the acquisition shortly after Industry Minister of Canada, Christian Paradis, disproved the TELUS and Mobilicity deal by saying that government wants to make sure that there should be four wireless carriers in each province of Canada.
This announcement has also put a full stop at the end of all the rumours related to the Wind, Mobilicity and Public Mobile merger, as previously several reports have asserted that due to the ongoing skirmish between the regulatory authority and small wireless companies the trio may merge together and form one company.
On the other hand, talking to Reuters, Wind’s Lacavera said that their company is still very much interested in buying Mobilicity. However, considering the disapproval of TELUS and Mobilicity deal, it seems difficult that Wind will be able to acquire the wireless startup, unless a new carrier enters into this zone.
Source: iPhoneinCanada
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