TORONTO – Under creditor protection since September, wireless carrier Mobilicity has won Ontario Superior Court of Justice approval to pursue the formal sale of the company.
On Wednesday, the company’s debtors received a sale procedure order from the court approving the sale of “substantially all of the business and assets or shares” of the company (known legally as Data & Audio Visual Enterprises, or DAVE).
Click here for all the documents related to the Mobilicity creditor protection and sale process.
Any parties interested must formally declare their intentions to the sellers by December 2, 2013 at 10 p.m. (ET), and make an official offer by 5 p.m. (ET) December 9 to the Monitor, Ernst & Young.
In a sworn affidavit, William Aziz, the man in charge of Mobilicity’s restructuring since April, says there is plenty of interest in the company (prized mostly for its spectrum assets). However, that spectrum is exactly why the company is proving difficult to sell. The company holds AWS, bought in the 2008 auction, which is not allowed to be sold to any of the big three incumbents for five years, a moratorium which for DAVE, expires in February.
Telus, as many will remember, has tried to buy the company but has repeatedly been told no by Industry Canada. However, not only has the federal government said it won’t allow the spectrum to be transferred before the five year period is up, it has also said it doesn’t want to allow Rogers, Bell or Telus to get it at all, even when the moratorium expires.
“Our government will continue to enforce the moratorium on the transfer of set-aside AWS spectrum to incumbents,” said Industry Minister James Moore when approving the sale of Public Mobile to Telus last month. “We will not approve any spectrum transfer request that decreases competition in our wireless sector to the detriment of consumers."
– Greg O'Brien
