DAVE Wireless Without Dave? Mobilicity Fired Dave?

[jimbobeaver]

Brutal quote in the Globe and Mail from Bitgove the major investor:

Mr. Bitove described Mr. Dobbin as a “very solid network guy” given his background in Toronto Telecom, Ottawa Telecom and Ontario Hydro, but said that he didn’t have a “consumer background.” He has done a great job building the network on time and budget, he added.

Dobbin has lots of consumer experience going back to when he ran a consumer retail chain that distributed Telus products. They grew so big that Telus bought them.

Clearly this is all about Bitgove and the investment group getting a poorer rate of return than they can get elsewhere.

Do not expect expansion of market coverage in this climate. Prices will have to rise. Bitgove is now in an active management role as executive chair. Revenue will have to improve in 2012 or this puppy will be sold in some form or another.

[melmart]

melmart!!! Why dont you ever post things here!!

I'm more of a listener than a talker (or at least when it comes to the forum!) Dave leaving Mobilicity, in my opinion - like many of yours, is sad. Like you've all said, he has a real appreciation for this forum. That being said, I know Stewart does too.

[melmart]

Mobilicity never did replace your presents after you left. The best we had was occasional posting (and PM) from Dave. Now I think they are just going to quiet. No more interacting with the customers...

Let's see where Mobilicity go from here.

Hi Jonavin!! I agree - let's see where they go from here. They could surprise you. There's no real point speculating (though it is a bit fun!)

[DroogBC]

This is truly unfortunate as Dave seems to be a great guy and has handled Mobilicity's operations in a truly admirable fashion in my opinion.

Despite the fact that I've grown increasingly frustrated with Mobilicity in recent weeks, the only thing which kept me from grabbing a Wind sim to give their network a try was Dave. I knew he cared about his service, as well as the customers who used it, and would sort out the issues eventually... also I didn't want to contribute to his competitors bottom line in any way.

Now that Dave has left, Mobi better make it a point to show their subs they care about people over profits as much as he did or they risk losing out in a big way.

My loyalty to Mobilicity is certainly shaken as the moment, that's for sure.

[DroogBC]

... and why is there no mention of this on Mobilicity's site? Nothing in the Newsroom or under Press Releases. Are they trying to figure out how to spin it, or do they think their customers are just drooling on their keyboards and giggling at the Mobi Aliens oblivious to what's going on behind the scenes?

[SharpieFiend]

Mobilicity will soon be known as 'Wind Mobile.' Welcome to the conversation!

[icemasta]

Mobilicity will soon be known as 'Wind Mobile.' Welcome to the conversation!

If that is ever true, then I see why Dave left.

[z24gta]

I wonder if Dave still carries a mobilicity cell phone, or did he buy a Rogers cell phone now.

[Insurge]

Dave has quietly removed the "CEO at Mobilicity" from his Twitter page description. Very disappointed to see him go.

[18Wheels]

Dave has quietly removed the "CEO at Mobilicity" from his Twitter page description. Very disappointed to see him go.

Yes, however, Mobilicity site is still the same
http://mobilicity.ca/executives/mana...m/dave-dobbin/

[gun26]

Reading the thread so far, most of us seem to credit the flurry of promos and discounts coming from Mobi this fall to Dave, and most of us also seem to ascribe at least some degree of dissatisfaction with their ROI to Bitove and his investors, and an imminent cutback in Mobi's discounting.

Yet in his email quoted in Friday's G&M article http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe...rticle2241996/ Bitove seemed to be crediting Dave with achieving an on-time and on-budget network buildout, but also said Dave lacked a "consumer background." I may be readıng between the lınes too much here, but Bitove's words seem to indicate more of a dissatisfaction with marketing and sales. He may actually end up pushing for more discounting and promotion, not less.

As for a Wind-Mobi merger, a Wind buyout of Mobi would mean that Naguib Sawiris, who professes to rue his sinking $1 billion into the Canadian market to fund Wind, would have to change his mind and double down on his investment in order to buy out a competitor. That doesn't seem too likely, unless he was purely blowing smoke in his recent interview. The reverse, a Mobi buyout of Wind, could be more likely given Sawiris' attitude, but Mobi's investors would have to more than double down on their investment to buy out a considerably larger competitor. Even less likely, in my opinion.

The one thing we can be sure of is that the Canadian market is still screwed up by the ridiculous protectionism built into our telecom regulations. Sawiris's observation that Canadian telecoms are too inefficient to compete openly is a telling one. I'd love to see Vodafone and the other big international players in the Canadian market. That can only benefit us long-suffering Canuck wireless consumers.

As for Dave joining RIM, the best of luck to him. We Canadians seem to be wilfully blind to the fact that RIM's market share is imploding everywhere, and that they are unlikely to be around in a few years.

[plow_king]

Just quickly glancing over Dave Dobbin's recent twitter feed, it seems as if he's gone rogue on abusers of the "Unlimited Data" benefit of their accounts. In several posts he's being very passive-aggressive and short with customers who are curious about what constitutes being an abuser. I would be curious about the same thing myself if I found out that you can have your account closed for using "too much" data.

I regularly check my email and surf the web on my phone and have no idea how much data I use but I definitely wouldn't classify myself as an abuser... just somebody who enjoys not having to worry about their data usage. I don't know if this is why Dave Dobbin left, but it would make some sense.

Also at this point it would make sense for Mobilicity to merge with Wind. They could be buying spectrum as a single entity as opposed to paying twice for something they could bid on together.

[SharpieFiend]

As for a Wind-Mobi merger, a Wind buyout of Mobi would mean that Naguib Sawiris, who professes to rue his sinking $1 billion into the Canadian market to fund Wind, would have to change his mind and double down on his investment in order to buy out a competitor. That doesn't seem too likely, unless he was purely blowing smoke in his recent interview. The reverse, a Mobi buyout of Wind, could be more likely given Sawiris' attitude, but Mobi's investors would have to more than double down on their investment to buy out a considerably larger competitor. Even less likely, in my opinion.

No cash needs to trade hands - that's what a 'merger' is. In the new structure Mobi's principals would be given a 30% (or whatever, but there's no way it's even close to 50%) share of the combined company. Some cash would have to be put in to cover the costs associated with the merger, but that's a small amount compared to a buyout.

Mobi can barely afford lunch right now - let alone a buyout of Wind - so a Mobi takeover of Wind is laughable.

[xtachx]

No cash needs to trade hands - that's what a 'merger' is. In the new structure Mobi's principals would be given a 30% (or whatever, but there's no way it's even close to 50%) share of the combined company. Some cash would have to be put in to cover the costs associated with the merger, but that's a small amount compared to a buyout.

Mobi can barely afford lunch right now - let alone a buyout of Wind - so a Mobi takeover of Wind is laughable.

A merger is a nicer name for a buyout. Sawiris isn't funding one - so no, wind won't be buying mobi.

Sent from my Nexus One using HowardForums

[DummyBuy]

I know that Mobilcity is not doing well with sales and I think the investor are not happy and want out.

I think they did the best marketing (better than WIND) but lacked the coverage and this is the reason I know that many customers comes to WIND.

I see the end for Mobilicity as I bet they are taking a big loss and I am sure the calculation for the next 5 years does not look too promising as we all can bet that Mobi probably will not be able to get LTE and if WIND does, it is a simple as that.

So if I was Mobi, I have to take my looses and pay the investor out

So my bet is it is bye bye for Mobi with 1 of 3 scenario.

1) Somehow, the Big 3 controls them and they get the LTE which the once of the BIG 3 will end up using

2) Wind takes them over as they will just be a budget company on 3G\4G and let the BIG 3 take the LTE market and charge the higher price

3) Public and Mobi makes a deal (Don't see this but it is an option)

Dave knows the deal and he knows in any outcome, he is going as you cannot have 2 CEO's

I think Dave is a smart person and did the best he could but that is business, sometimes, it does not work you way.

Good luck Dave on where ever you go and I do respect you for taking time to answer the "peoples" question the way you have done which shows you are really a stand up guy!