Telecom market data firm Comlinkdata has acquired crowdsourced mobile network and performance data company Tutela for an undisclosed sum.
Tutela gathers device-based data on mobile usage and performance; its software runs in the background in thousands of Android and iOS smartphone apps to deliver anonymized data on user experience and behavior. The company says it collects more than 30 billion device, application and network data points each day.
The acquisition broadens and deepens Boston-based Comlinkdata’s sources of data for its telecom market insights. Comlinkdata provides North American telecom market data and visualization tools that wired and wireless carriers use for information about market positioning as well as to guide network investments. According to a company blog post, its analyses “range from the impact of a weekend promotion to the potential market impact of a carrier bidding for spectrum at auction. Why did promotion ‘x’ perform better in these areas better than others? What type of customer switched for promotion ‘y’? These are the types of questions we answer and some of the market changes we anticipate.”
“The wealth of data collected from Tutela’s global panel of over 300 million smartphone users has led to its selection by global telecom leaders like Nokia and Telefonica as the standard for network experience measurement. As one team now with Tutela, we have unmatched data, platforms and expertise to tackle the most difficult questions that drive success for telecom operators,” said Charles Rutstein, Comlinkdata CEO, in a statement.
Comlinkdata is owned by California-based private equity firm Alpine Investors, which focuses on software and services companies with enterprise values between $10-300 million. Will Adams, partner at Alpine Investors, said that by joining the two companies, Alpine is “uniting two leading teams with complementary offerings to deliver new and innovative solutions for the telecom industry across the globe.”
Comlinkdata said that the combined company “will continue to offer both Tutela and Comlinkdata services while looking for ways to add value and create new services through the integration of the two datasets. … With even more scale and resources, the Tutela team will accelerate its efforts to grow its dataset, build new services and help clients generate and apply new insights to optimize their businesses.”
Tutela’s founds, leadership team and staff will stay with the company, Comlinkdata said. Tutela has offices and a research lab in Victoria, British Columbia, as well as an office in London.
Comlinkdata said that the combined company “will help the telecoms industry to understand and execute on opportunities to better meet the needs and wants of consumers.
“The mobile services landscape is being disrupted by new 5G networks, operator mergers, the growing number of MVNOs, and the entry of wireline ISPs into an already competitive space. In this environment, data-driven strategic investment is more important than ever for competitive differentiation and market success,” it said.
