Charlie Ergen has reached a deal to acquire a controlling stake in wireless-service provider MobileX through his special purpose acquisition company CONX, according to people familiar with the matter…Peter Adderton will remain chief executive of MobileX, said some of the people familiar with the matter. Adderton founded Boost Mobile in 2000 and sold it to Nextel in 2003. The company changed hands a few times and has been owned by EchoStar since 2023. Adderton founded MobileX in 2019.
Can’t say I’m excited about this development. Perhaps, I’ll be looking for a new Verizon network provider? It’s getting increasingly difficult to find independent MVNOs - as opposed to brands owned by one of the MNOs - worth doing business with. After what happened with RW post DISH acquisition, I strongly prefer not to do business with DISH owned (or in this case Ergen owned) brands.
Does anyone else find it mildly amusing the name of the Ergen owned SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) is CONX (emphsis mine)?
I will mention despite my distaste for all things DISH, the initial team brought in by DISH to manage the RW transition were great folks who genuinely wanted a successful transition. It was most unfortunate their corporate overlords were far from on the same page.
Not surprised by this development, though frustrated. I liked my sleepy, no drama wireless network for $10 a month. Fierce Wireless just posted a more detailed and speculative analysis of this acquisition. Putting the X into the CON:
The question now is whether MobileX and Adderton can get Boost on track, or whether these assets will be combined and flipped by Ergen to another buyer. This list of potential buyers is short. SpaceX has said it wants to operate a wireless network, but the big three nationwide carriers have said they don’t plan to do MVNO deals with SpaceX. A sale of Ergen’s mobile business to SpaceX would trigger change of control clauses that could void the existing MVNO contracts.
I’m too old to be dealing with this, Roland!