Woosh Wireless plunges to record loss

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Woosh Wireless plunges to record loss

JayADee

2148 posts

Uber Geek

#59570 7-Apr-2010 08:52

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/3551911/Woosh-Wireless-plunges-to-record-loss-of-38m

After the lousy, sneaky things they did to me when I was a customer, the faster the company dies the better.

JayADee

2148 posts

Uber Geek

#315655 7-Apr-2010 09:32

And oh, btw Woosh, yes! I am still pissed off at you since 2007. Been happily with xnet (phone and broadband) ever since. Like myriads of other customers.

sbiddle

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#315665 7-Apr-2010 09:51

Right now they're nothing but a great tax loss for their investors. I don't see any hope in the world of them raising any more cash which would ultimately see the demise of the company.. But having said that we've all been predicting their demise for a number of years now and like a Phoenix rising from the ashes they've always managed to find an investor somewhere with cash to burn willing to invest into a lemon.

JayADee

2148 posts

Uber Geek

#315723 7-Apr-2010 12:20

sbiddle: Right now they're nothing but a great tax loss for their investors.

Works for landlords. ;)

timestyles

424 posts

Ultimate Geek

#315737 7-Apr-2010 12:55

So how could things have been done differently? If I recall, they went through a megaload of cash in a short time, and didn't get many customers in the process. Was it bad management, lack of management knowledge/experience or was it something that bound to happen no matter who was at the helm?

PIERCD

58 posts

Master Geek

#315746 7-Apr-2010 13:13

Funny thing is, I was out at their offices yesterday (we provide some hardware services to them) and everything seemed to be rosy, so I don't know if the staff know whats happening or whether they are all just putting on a brave face.

Sad to see them die to be honest, I was a sign up when the technology first came out and it meant not having to sign up for a home line with Telecom, unfortunately the technology was flakey and just couldnt compete for speed or latency.

geek4me

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#315769 7-Apr-2010 14:27

Been using Woosh Wireless and Phone at our office for many years now with few problems so would be sad to see them go.

Their Prices have always been good for business customers because of their free local calls. All other Telcos charge businesses for local calls while Woosh do not.

One day it will probably all stop working but we'll keep using it till then.

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#315772 7-Apr-2010 14:31

geek4me: Been using Woosh Wireless and Phone at our office for many years now with few problems so would be sad to see them go.

Their Prices have always been good for business customers because of their free local calls. All other Telcos charge businesses for local calls while Woosh do not.

One day it will probably all stop working but we'll keep using it till then.

Maybe the pricing is what is sending them bust its not chaep to run networks

Sharesies

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sbiddle

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#315813 7-Apr-2010 17:00

timestyles: So how could things have been done differently? If I recall, they went through a megaload of cash in a short time, and didn't get many customers in the process. Was it bad management, lack of management knowledge/experience or was it something that bound to happen no matter who was at the helm?

They simply backed a technology that turned into a lemon. Nobody can be blamed for this, it was just an unfortunate occurance. TDD CDMA was similar to the WCDMA standard used by Vodafone and XT but used a single block of unpaired spectrum. Unfortunately the technology promised a lot more than it ever delivered.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#315824 7-Apr-2010 17:36

feel bad for their employes and customers.

I seriously doubt they will be able to recover from this. $12m -ve equity and annual losses is a pretty shocking state to be in.

If I worked there I would be looking for a job somewhere else right about now.

jen1001

256 posts

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#315842 7-Apr-2010 18:40

I was a sign up when the technology first came out and it meant not having to sign up for a home line with Telecom, unfortunately the technology was flakey and just couldnt compete for speed or latency.

Same here. They kept us going cos didn't have the need for a landline until recently and their service was ok, but the internet connection was way too unstable and constant disconnects - had a booster antenna, which apparently I didn't originally need according to them, but my connection would be crap without it.

MikeyPI

450 posts

Ultimate Geek

#316129 8-Apr-2010 11:17

johnr:
geek4me: Been using Woosh Wireless and Phone at our office for many years now with few problems so would be sad to see them go.

Their Prices have always been good for business customers because of their free local calls. All other Telcos charge businesses for local calls while Woosh do not.

One day it will probably all stop working but we'll keep using it till then.

Maybe the pricing is what is sending them bust its not chaep to run networks

A lesson to those crying about sms, and data prices.. While woosh is not your standard telco, you better be making money, or your loosing it. Telecom is lucky they have had 20+years of good profits, or this XT debacle would have nearly killed them.....

timestyles

424 posts

Ultimate Geek

#316507 9-Apr-2010 12:44

According to this article http://www.nzherald.co.nz/connect/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501833&objectid=10636957 they have had losses of $180 million. Now, if you pretend that they had $20 million of income, that means $200 million of costs. How can a small company go through that much money? Even if every employee was paid $100,000 that would mean 2000 employee years of service. If they had 50,000 wireless customers, that would mean a cost of $4,000 per customer.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#316554 9-Apr-2010 14:45

timestyles: According to this article http://www.nzherald.co.nz/connect/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501833&objectid=10636957 they have had losses of $180 million.

the $170m refers to losses over the life of the company (about 10 years), and icnldues asset writedowns amongst other things.

also, note that it says their EBITDA this year were only around -$3m (so the rest is made of up a combination of interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation), the brunt of their loss comes from interest payments, and asset revaluation.

"Total assets are valued at $13.3 million, down from nearly $50 million in 2008."

Ouch!