ispONE acquired by Melbourne telco provider

The assets of collapsed internet service provider ispONE have been taken over by Melbourne-based telecommunications provider Conec2 Group.

ispONE put itself up for sale, specifically its iBOSS billing platform, in the last month after going into administration due to its prepaid services business.

The platform was the only profitable part of ispONE’s business. 

Conec2's acquisition of ispONE does not include the company's tens of millions of dollars in debt.

The acquisition includes ispONE’s 29 employees and 61,000 customers. Other core assets include ispONE’s fixed-line DSL, postpaid mobile contracts, iBOSS, key wholesale contracts and network assets.

Conec2 declined to put a value on the deal, though it is understood to be worth less than $2 million.

The prepaid business used Telstra’s network to service Kogan Mobile, among a handful of other clients. ispONE failed to accurately forecast costs and take-up, resulting in its inability to make payments to Telstra.

ispONE suffered a $1.8 million loss in 2012 and a $7 million loss this year following its decision to launch prepaid mobile services.

Last week ispONE administrators revealed 29 parties had signalled interest to buy the iBOSS fixed services unit, with 5-6 at the time having signed non-disclosure agreements and considered serious buyers.

From today, Conec2 will provide mobile services and its iBOSS platform to former ispONE retail partner Aldi Mobile using Telstra's network.

No mention was made of former ispONE partner Kogan Mobile, which successfully sued the company after it cut off customers from the Kogan service.

“We have undergone strong growth in the past few years, resulting in CONEC2 now supplying services to some of Australia’s largest businesses and Retail Service Providers (RSP),” group chief executive of CONEC2 Cameron Adams said in a statement.

“This timely acquisition of the ispONE assets fits in well with our strategy to grow the business further both in Australia and in the Asian region.”