Telstra has acquired MVNO Boost Mobile for a reported sum of AU$145 million (US$94m).
The confirmation of the acquisition can be found on LinkedIn where Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton posted earlier this week. He writes that the sale of Boost will enable him to focus on achieving his dream of creating a global mobile brand:
“With today’s announcement of the sale of the Boost Mobile brand in Australia to Telstra I can now focus 100 percent of my energy on finishing that dream with the MobileX global brand. Boost has given me an incredible 20-plus years of Fun, adventure, many highs and some lows, but in the end I hope our Boost customers knew we got up every day and fought for them that fight will continue for me and the whole team at MobileX, and I will finish the dream of building that global brand.”
The acquisition builds on a relationship that goes back to 2012 when Boost became a Telstra MVNO wholesale customer providing Boost with network access, product development, pricing and customer services. Boost is the only MVNO with access to Telstra’s entire mobile network, which covers 99.4 percent of the country.
“Boost Mobile has been a fantastic partner of Telstra for 13 years and this acquisition cements just how much we value the Boost brand,” said Brad Whitcomb, Group executive for Telstra Consumer.
The deal is also reported in the Financial Review to deliver co-founder of Boost and former Prime Minister Paul Keating a payday of $40 million. Mr Keating was originally the sole investor in Boost and owned around 29% of the company. Further details here .