Uniti Wireless attracts support from Australian telco heavyweights

Uniti Wireless has received a multi-million dollar investment from two Australian telecommunications entrepreneurs that will see the wireless internet company kick-off its national expansion and five-year goal of reaching 100,000 Australian customers.

Vocus Communications founder James Spenceley and Amcom founder Tony Grist have both jumped on board the South Australian company that claims to provide wireless fixed broadband connections that are as fast as a standard national broadband network (NBN) connection.

According to Uniti, the investment from Spenceley and Grist will allow the company to expand their existing footprint outside of Adelaide, Waikerie, and Melbourne and will also be used to increase the number of base stations and expand the delivery team.

"The technology has evolved to a point where Uniti is now delivering a standard 40mbps high-speed Internet service right up to 100mbps premium plan to households and businesses with minimal infrastructure requirements, and best of all, with reliability equivalent to typical fixed line services," co-CEO and co-founder of Uniti Wireless, Sasha Baranikov, said.

"The investment by James and Tony is recognition that Uniti's product and fixed wireless technology has a strong future in Australia's broadband market."

Uniti believes its success so far is due to its business model that does not have the CVC charges or a tax on usage that NBN retailers must wear, meaning there is no requirement for Uniti to manage or limit usage.

"As a result we can deliver the service (and speed) customers are so desperately seeking," the company said.

Speaking on behalf of both himself and Grist, Spenceley said the pair made the investment based on the success of Uniti's rollout to date and the customer satisfaction of the existing users.

"The evolution of fixed wireless, to enable the delivery of 40mbps and 100mbps speeds to households, is one that surprises many people," he said.

"The unequalled satisfaction of the Uniti users validates their model, and the feedback on the performance from users is simply astonishing. By owning the network end to end Uniti can deliver the performance people want, coupled with the ability to roll it out quickly."

Spenceley's Vocus Communications scooped up Amcom in June last year for a cost of AU$1.2 billion, with strong support from Grist. The Federal Court of Australia permitted the acquisition after more than 77 percent of Amcom's shareholders also approved of the takeover.