Telstra's Boost Mobile buy gets a mixed reaction in Australia

While some were of the whooping and high-fiving mindset, many more expressed disappointment that the budget-focussed MVNO will be subsumed into Australia's biggest telco.

"So now you’re leaving us to be screwed by Telstra thanks," reads the top comment on Adderton's Facebook post.

And there are more of that ilk, which is hardly a surprise, given the situation. There are always concerns over the potential for higher prices and a different style of service with deals like this.

Doubtless Telstra will retain Boost Mobile in its current form as a sub-brand, since its appeal to the youth market was one reason Telstra was so keen to steal it away from Optus a wholesale customer a decade or so ago.

Indeed, Light Reading secured a comment from Telstra Consumer head Brad Whitcomb, who said the deal would consolidate the whole Boost Mobile brand under one roof and enable its new owner to "better deliver on its multi-brand strategy."

It's worth noting though that there has still been no official announcement from the incumbent; news of the deal was broken by the Australian Financial Review (paywall) and Telstra has had little to say on the matter so far.

All we have to go on at present are Adderton's comments. His rationale for selling out to the establishment is essentially to enable him to focus on his other MVNO business, MobileX in the US.

"Ever since I founded the Boost mobile brand I wanted to build the first global Mobile Brand, I never was able to fully achieve that dream of giving consumers all over the world a choice and a voice with the Boost brand," Adderton wrote – clearly hastily – on Facebook. "With today's announcement of the Sale of the Boost Mobile brand in Australia to Telstra I can now focus 100% of my energy on finishing that dream with the MobileX global brand."

Adderton broke into the US cellular market with Boost Mobile via a joint venture with Nextel in the early noughties. The business has changed hands a number of times since then, and is now owned by Dish Network, which picked it up when regulators forced its divestment as part of the merger between Sprint and T-Mobile US, which closed almost five years ago. The less said about Boost Mobile's recent performance under its new owner, the better.

Adderton's remarks on MobileX naturally gave rise to speculation over where he will go next with his latest MVNO, which runs on Verizon's network stateside. There have been rumblings about international launches, but nothing so far.

He received a number of queries asking whether he will seek to launch MobileX in Australia, but hasn't been particularly forthcoming on that score. It seems safe to predict that expansion is on the cards, but what that means in the short term is anyone's guess. A move to Australia would essentially mean poaching the customers he has just sold, which would clearly not sit well with Telstra, which is paying a reasonable sum for Boost Mobile.

According to the AFR, Telstra has agreed to part with A$140 million (US$91 million) in cash for the MVNO. Presumably it will share more details of the transaction when it is good and ready.