Billionaire entrepreneur Chamath Palihapitiya’s new company Rama plans to take part in the US spectrum auction next year as part of plans to take on the incumbents. The ex-Facebook VP’s latest startup could spend up to US$10bn at the auction, which aims to boost competition in the mobile space.
Billionaire entrepreneur Chamath Palihapitiya’s new company Rama plans to take part in the US spectrum auction next year as part of plans to take on the incumbents.
Speaking at the Mobile First Summit in San Francisco, Palihapitiya (pictured) said Rama aims to acquire sufficient airwaves – worth US$4bn to US$10bn – with a view to building a network and operations.
AT&T and T-Mobile US have already said they will take part in the FCC auction, set to take place in Q1, Verizon has said it may participate and cash-strapped Sprint has said it will abstain. The FCC has set aside up to 30 MHz of the 600 MHz spectrum, currently in the hands of broadcasters, for smaller players in an effort to boost competition in the wireless space.
Palihapitiya said his venture capital firm, Palo Alto-based Social Capital, is building the new wireless operator, which will use software from another of his companies, LotusFlare, to manage its network. LotusFlare has previously raised funds from Google’s venture capital arm and others.
While Rama has just six or seven staff members, Palihapitiya was cited by Re/code saying it has “a lot of cash” to invest. He said it is backed by other well-known investors, but added that they will not be named until next year.
Rama has so far focused on Sri Lanka, where it has 10 MHz of spectrum, and the Philippines, where it is working on a deal, Palihapitiya said.
BusinessInsider cited Palihapitiya saying that he envisages Rama as a modern carrier which solves “a whole bunch of issues that carriers aren’t trying to solve”. He said it would offer easy billing and apps that won’t cut into data usage.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Palihapitiya founded Social Capital, described as a partnership of philanthropists, technologists and capitalists engaged in venture capital, in mid-2011. He is currently the CEO of Social Capital and executive chairman of another of his start-up, Athos, focused on wearable technology for health and fitness. He has previously worked for Facebook – as VP of platform and monetisation between 2007 and 2008, and VP of user growth, mobile and international between 2007 and 2011. Earlier employers were the Mayfield Fund and AOL.
Social Capital wasn’t immediately available for comment, while Rama could not be reached. Palihapitiya did, however, retweet several posts on Twitter about his plans to take part in the US auction.
