Australia’s largest MVNO today is significantly business, with Amaysim announcing it has acquires competitor Vaya and its 140,000 subscribers on the Optus network.
In deal worth a total of $70 million, Amaysim will pay $5 million in cash, plus shares, to take on 100% of Vaya shares.
Existing Vaya customers are being promised it will be business as usual for the Vaya brand, with Amaysim intending to continue running both telco businesses as separate entities.
“Vaya’s online-only, strong market offering in the sub-$20 market segment complements amaysim’s ‘customer champion’ position and creates greater scale to our online-driven platform and operating network.” said Amaysim CEO Julian Ogrin in a statement
“This is a rare opportunity to significantly grow our number of subscribers on the same network and in a complementary market segment,”
Room for improvement
Amaysim and Vaya share a number of similarities being SIM Only service suppliers on the Optus network. But customer service is one area where the companies have been noticeably dissimilar in the past. Amaysim has one of the best reputations in the mobile landscape, with fewer complaints than most of the other mobile providers in Australia.
On the flip side, Vaya has a far worse track record. In the year between June 2014 to June 2015, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman recorded 563 complaints about Vaya. This equates to just over 40 complaints per 10,000 subscribers — or nearly five times the industry average.
As part of the acquisition, Amaysim will take on Vaya’s 40 employees, including support staff in the Philippines. A new program of training for these staff would seem to be the first major change necessary for the new owners.
Joseph Hanlon
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