Mitchell Bingemann | August 27, 2008
WIRELESS broadband provider Pacific Wireless has signalled its intention to buy the assets of iBurst, a division of the collapsed Commander Communications.
Pacific Wireless hopes to secure iBurst’s assets to be used as a launch pad for national coverage of its wireless services. Currently, Pacific Wireless only services customers in Melbourne.“The plan for national rollout has always been there, it’s just been about appropriate timing and now the iBurst sale gives us that opportunity,” Pacific Wireless managing director Jonathon Shutt said.
“We’re not particularly interested in iBurst itself which is losing its place in the market and is dying under the weight of 3.5G products that the large telcos are running.
“Rather, we are more interested in the network assets and iBurst’s 1.9GHz spectrum,” Mr Shutt said.
He said the company had not yet lodged a bid for the network but confirmed it would discuss the sale with Commander's receiver, McGrathNicol, next week.
Pacific Wireless is not the first company to train its sites on iBurst’s wireless broadband assets. Earlier this month BigAir chief financial officer Patrick Choi also announced the firm’s interest in the assets.
Mr Shutt was not concerned about BigAir’s iBurst interest though. “If you have a look at BigAir’s stock market performance it’s hard to see how they could be looked at as a serious contender,” he said.
ASX-listed BigAir opened trading at $0.04 today.
If successful in its bid, Mr Shutt said Pacific would immediately begin to overlay its services onto the iBurst network.
The iBurst network covers parts of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast.