Kogan Mobile, an Australian mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), will no longer be able to sell services to its customers after ispONE, a reseller of incumbent Telstra’s services, went into administration.
ispONE acts as an intermediary between…
Kogan Mobile, an Australian mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), will no longer be able to sell services to its customers after ispONE, a reseller of incumbent Telstra’s services, went into administration.
ispONE acts as an intermediary between Telstra and two local MVNOs – Kogan Mobile and Aldi Mobile – but recently appointed Ferrier Hodgson as a voluntary administrator, which subsequently cancelled the contracts for the supply of Telstra’s products, the Australian incumbent said in a statement.
Aldi Mobile’s customers, estimated to be around the 130,000 mark, will not be affected by the move as the MVNO entered into a direct supply agreement with Telstra Wholesale.
However, Kogan Mobile’s 120,000 customers will likely be forced to switch to a new mobile services provider. In its statement, Telstra said that “an interim service will be available for a fixed period of time for people who have activated pre-paid mobile services from Kogan Mobile, so that they have time to choose their next steps”. The Australian’s largest operator added that it will progressively deactivate Kogan Mobile services.
In a long statement on its website, Kogan Mobile said that it has been “muscled out of the mobile industry against our will by a force much bigger and much stronger than us”. It also blamed the “telco heavyweights” which “may be determined to take their former customers back”.
Australia has more than 40 MVNOs.
