Canada’s Telus has dropped its latest bid to acquire financially-stricken smaller cellular rival Mobilicity, the Globe & Mail reports. The newspaper writes that Telus informed Mobilicity this week that it was withdrawing its latest takeover offer because ‘conditions of the deal had not been met’. One condition was that the federal government approve the transfer of spectrum between Mobilicity and Telus – a move which Ottawa opposed in two previous attempts by Telus to buy the smaller company. Last month Telus agreed terms to purchase Mobilicity for CAD350 million (USD317.6 million) in a transaction to be implemented under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). The telecoms ministry Industry Canada had blocked both previous takeover attempts by Telus under a spectrum transfer policy aiming to restrict acquisition of new entrants’ 3G/4G frequencies by national incumbents. The latest development reportedly leaves Mobilicity, which is operating under bankruptcy protection, without a known bidder to take over the company.
Thanks to TeleGeography for the article.