Private company

Mobilicity

Data and Audio-Visual Enterprises Wireless, d/b/a Mobilicity, was a Canadian mobile network operator (MNO), who was later acquired by Rogers Communications for approximately $450M CAD in 2015.1

Last updated Oct 18, 2026.

Overview

2009Founded1
  • Industrymobile phone industry, telecommunications industry1
  • HeadquartersVaughan1
  • Websitewww.mobilicity.ca

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Data and Audio-Visual Enterprises Wireless, d/b/a Mobilicity, was a Canadian mobile network operator (MNO), who was later acquired by Rogers Communications for approximately $450M CAD in 2015. Its name was a portmanteau of the words "mobility" and "simplicity". Mobilicity was one of several new mobile network operators, along with Public Mobile (later acquired by Telus) and Wind Mobile (later acquired by Shaw Communications), which launched in Canada after a government initiative to encourage competition in the wireless sector. The carrier had over 250,000 Mobilicity subscriptions on May 16, 2013, the day on which Telus announced its failed attempt to acquire Mobilicity. The subscription count decreased to 157,000 by April 2015 according to court documents filed by Mobilicity's Chief Restructuring Officer in that month.2

How it started

2008–2009: Early years

Originally formed as DAVE Wireless by Canadian businessman John Bitove, the company entered the 2008 spectrum auction for AWS frequencies. DAVE spent $243 million on 10 MHz of AWS spectrum blocks largely covering southern and eastern Ontario, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. The domain davewireless.com was registered on July 10, 2008, via Go Daddy. Later, on October 27, 2009, the domain mobilicity.ca was registered via Internic.ca and the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA).

Dave Dobbin, who had held executive posts at other telecom firms (COO of Telecom Ottawa, President of Toronto Hydro Telecom, President of Cogeco Data Services), was named president and CEO.

2010–2012: Launch and competition

DAVE Wireless's website was launched with information on January 7. The following month, on February 2, it was confirmed that the company would operate under the name Mobilicity. The company was built to deliver Canadians a simple mobile solution. Later, service was launched to the public on May 15, but only for the city of Toronto. On November 17, service was launched in Edmonton and Vancouver, and in the Ottawa and Gatineau area the following day. Coverage in Calgary went live on April 28, 2011. This was the last major update to Mobilicity's coverage.

During Q4 2011, Mobilicity had a 50% off sale on all monthly plans. Dave Dobbin resigned in November 2011. John Bitove assumed the role of Executive Chairman. Stewart Lyons, formerly Executive Vice President of XM Satellite Radio Canada, replaced Dobbin as Mobilicity's president, while Bitove assumed the role of Executive Chairman. Mobilicity ended the year with approximately 206,500 subscribers, of which 113,000 (54%) who activated during Q4 of either 2010 or 2011.

From Wikipedia’s article on Mobilicity, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Leadership

Who has led Mobilicity, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Timeline

  1. 2016Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 2009Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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