Unwired lashes funding concern claims

The company issued a statement today saying it wanted to "correct recent reports" on its position, confirming that its "Sydney business is fully funded and ... the current cash balance is more than enough to take the company through to breakeven in Sydney".

It said its customer base was growing strongly, with the 25,000-mark reached late in May. The Sydney business has been operating commercially for nine months.

Market concerns revolve around whether the carrier can recoup its infrastructure investment in Sydney before it moves on to other cities like Melbourne.

Recent newspaper articles containing speculation about Unwired raising funds to roll out its wireless broadband solution to cities outside Sydney also came under fire.

"Unwired's CEO David Spence reiterates that the wireless broadband carrier is in discussions with a number of parties as part of an ongoing process of exploring fundraising options," the statement said. "The market will be immediately informed if and when any fund raising arrangement is entered into."

Unwired is also pushing ahead with its planned rollout of next-generation WiMax technology. This morning it announced its hardware supplier Navini Networks was on schedule to start delivering by the end of 2005.

The telco said back in May it was in talks with Optus about wireless broadband rollouts using Optus infrastructure. That news came after Optus said it had a deal to resell Unwired competitor Personal Broadband Australia's iBurst solution.