Mobilicity, the Canadian carrier struggling to remain afloat, put itself up for auction earlier this month. The plan was to give potential bidders until December 2 to express their interest in participating and another week to put together their final bids. With that date now upon us, the company has extended the bid deadline to December 16 at 1200 noon (ET).
According to the court document announcing the deadline extension, Mobilicity and its court-appointed monitor, Ernst & Young Inc., took the decision after “considering requests for an extension from Qualified Bidders.” The language suggests that more than one bidder have expressed interest but only WIND Mobile has publicly confirmed its participation to date. Another likely participant is TELUS which has twice now tried to acquire the carrrier only to have the deals scrapped by the Canadian government which also appears ready to scrap further attempts.
Time is quickly running out for Mobilicity. It remains under protection from creditors under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) only until December 20 unless a new court order extends it further. Should it not be extended, it’s unclear how much longer Mobilicity will be able to continue to operate on its own.
According to an earlier report, Mobilicity is looking for at least CA$350 million for its spectrum, 189,239 active subscribers and other assets.
Sources : Ernst & Young // MobileSyrup