Tethys Mobile, formerly Virgin Mobile South Africa, has been in business rescue since September 2020
Huge Group will acquire the remaining assets belonging to Tethys Mobile, formerly Virgin Mobile South Africa. The telco was the country’s first mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), but it hit tough times and in 2020, announced that it was voluntarily entering business rescue. Then network service was terminated for subscribers a year later.
Once the deal is finalized, the telco will undergo yet another name change, this time to Huge Digital Enablement. However, one detail that will remain the same is the role of CEO, which will stay with Zak van de Merwe, who has led Virgin Mobile and Tethys through the business rescue process.
“Huge Group’s involvement comes at the perfect time,” said van de Merwe, “[C]onsumer brands are aggressively embracing the digital mobile channel as a primary element of their customer experience.”
The acquisition will enable Huge Group to offer a technical platform to prospective MVNOs, a market that is reportedly growing quickly in South Africa. “Huge Group’s rationale for acquiring Tethys is the indirect acquisition of its software and technology platform, and the intellectual property related to this software and technology platform,” the company said in a statement.
The company pointed to Tethys’ “sophisticated technical and operational capability,” commenting that it will allow Huge Group to provide a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) to organizations that “aspire to provide MVNO services.”
Specifically, Huge Group detailed several assets it will gain once everything is said and done, including a multi-tenant CRM platform, billing system and an online charging system. In addition to these assets, Huge Group will also become responsible for settling disputes related to the service termination previously mentioned, in addition to several other claims from creditors.
For John Henning, Tethys senior business rescue practitioner, the deal is a purely positive development, which he believes will see the “recapitalization” of the company, as well as new job opportunities and “new contributions made to the South African economy.”
