Vecima’s YourLink sells spectrum for $14 million

Vecima Networks Inc. announced Wednesday that its subsidiary, YourLink Inc., has entered into an agreement for the sale of its 2.5-2.6 GHz spectrum in Saskatchewan to Inukshuk Wireless Partnership for $14 million. Inukshuk is a partnership betweeen Rogers Communications Inc. and Bell Canada. The transaction is subject to conditions such as regulatory approvals, and is expected to close through a number of phases. The licenses represent about 7.5 per cent of the Canadian spectrum owned by YourLink. Vecima said YourLink will ensure a smooth transition for Internet customers moving to other spectrum owned by YourLink, which will “open up significantly higher capacity and bandwidth for those customers.” The company said the agreement will allow YourLink to use the spectrum sold to Inukshuk for one year after the agreement date. YourLink provides video and broadband Internet access to about 19,000 customers through digital wireless services in Saskatchewan and small cable TV systems in rural British Columbia, the company said. It added that following the sale of the 2.5-2.6 GHz spectrum, YourLink will move its wireless video customers in Saskatchewan to other service providers. Revenues from video customers in Saskatchewan are a “minor part of YourLink wireless revenues,” Vecima said. "Vecima believes that the market value of YourLink's total spectrum holdings before this sale is in the $35 to $50 million range. We are pleased that this agreement provides strong evidence of the significant value contained within Vecima's asset base built over 22 years of profitable operations,” Surinder Kumar, president and CEO of Vecima Networks, said in a statement. “Further, the transition to other spectrum will allow us not only to introduce a new generation of our own advanced Internet radios, but also to expand service speed and bandwidth to our growing customer base.” Earlier this year, Inukshuk bought $80 million worth of spectrum in the 2500-2690 MHz band from Craig Wireless to expand its wireless broadband services.

Vecima’s YourLink sells spectrum for $14 million

Brief | November 17, 2010

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