Grupo MASMOVIL has reportedly completed the migration of all Euskaltel, R and Virgin Telco MVNO subscriptions onto its Yoigo mobile network. Spanish tech blog Xataka Movil quotes Norberto Ojinaga, Euskaltel’s Network Director, as saying: ‘As a result of this migration process, carried out in record time, Euskaltel, R and Virgin Telco mobile customers now have access to the most complete network coverage on the market … more than 50% of our clients have seen their mobile coverage improved.’
US Mobile has confirmed that it has secured new investment, via Series A2 funding. In a blog post, CEO Ahmed Khattak wrote: ‘I’m thrilled to announce that US Mobile has raised USD19.5 million in Series A2 funding, led by our partners at Volition Capital. With this investment, this brings our aggregate Series A raise to over USD30 million – just nine months after our initial Series A round.’ In operational terms, Khattak noted: ‘In 2021, we dramatically overshot our targets – achieving record year-on-year revenue and subscriber growth. We more than doubled our annual recurring revenue from USD18 million to USD38 million in 2021 – and are rapidly closing in on USD50 million. We saw close to a 100% percent increase in our total subscribers, a 102% increase in gross subscriber additions, and a 212% increase in starter kit sales.’
Sticking with the US MVNO sector, Stephen Stokols, EVP of Retail Wireless at DISH Network, has indicated that the pay-TV giant’s Boost Mobile unit will enter the post-paid market later this year. Fierce Wireless quotes Stokols as saying: ‘We’re going to take Boost from the pre-paid market to the mass market.’ The new service will be called Boost Infinite. Elsewhere, with reference to the contentious migration of legacy CDMA-based Sprint wholesale subscriptions onto T-Mobile US’s LTE network, Stokols noted: ‘We’re pretty much through the hard part of that.’
Dutch group Techone has acquired B2B ISP Helden van Nu, which provides services including internet, VoIP and mobile. Techone now owns eight Netherlands-based companies in the ‘communications’ category (alongside other ICT companies): digihero; Infopact (acquired in December 2020); Scaldis (acquired January 2021); 12Connect (acquired March 2021); Yourtelecom (acquired June 2021); Lagarde Group (acquired October 2021); Fit4Telecom (acquired on 29 April 2022); and Helden Van Nu (acquired 12 May 2022).
Over in Australia, Telstra Wholesale has announced that MVNOs will be able to access its 5G service from July. Glenn Osborne, Executive, Sales and Wholesale Segment, Telstra Wholesale, commented: ‘The ability for our MVNO customers to offer a premium 5G mobile plan, as part of their suite of mobile solutions, provides even more possibilities for these customers to unlock new growth opportunities and attract different audiences seeking the performance benefits and capacity of 5G.’ The network covers 75% of Australians.
Finally, Pareteum Corporation and certain affiliates have filed for voluntary protection under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The company intends to execute a strategic asset sale under section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code ‘while addressing legacy issues to best position the business for future success’. Pareteum notes that Circles MVNE has combined with Channel Ventures Group (CVG) to execute a stalking horse asset purchase agreement for substantially all of the company’s assets. Circles has agreed to acquire the company’s MVNE business and associated contracts, and CVG has agreed to acquire the company’s MVNO, IDM, iPass, and SMB businesses and associated contracts. These agreements are subject to higher and better offers, among other conditions, as well as approval from the Bankruptcy Court.
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