Canada’s Mobilicity has pushed back a debtholder vote on a recapitalisation plan to improve the operator’s balance sheet that was set to take place tomorrow.
The telco has moved the meeting to 3 July as it says it wants to give creditors time to…
Canada’s Mobilicity has pushed back a debtholder vote on a recapitalisation plan to improve the operator’s balance sheet that was set to take place tomorrow.
The telco has moved the meeting to 3 July as it says it wants to give creditors time to review new guidelines on spectrum transfers to be issued by the ministry for business, Industry Canada. The publication of the guidelines is expected before the end of the month.
Mobilicity was set to be bought by Telus for C$380m as its larger rival looked to acquire its frequencies, but Industry Canada’s Christian Paradis said at the start of June that the spectrum could not be transferred. He went on to say that in future transfers that would result in “undue concentration and therefore reduce competition will not be permitted”.
After that deal fell apart Mobilicity decided to pursue a recapitalisation plan. The details of the new spectrum policy are crucial for the operator as its spectrum licences are its key asset – 10MHz of AWS spectrum in a number of Canada’s major cities. Mobilicity only has 250,000 customers in a wireless market with more than 25 million users.
The operator may yet be picked up should an investor look to consolidate the smaller players in the market to create a nationwide fourth carrier, an idea which Ottawa is keen on as it has pledged to voters that it will improve competition in the wireless sector.
Alongside a number of potential domestic investors Verizon Communications confirmed last week that it was weighing up entering the market.
