BigAir laments lost iBurst revenues

Speaking at the recent Broadband World 2008 conference, BigAir CEO Jason Ashton revealed the company’s disappointment that a service with a market niche and 10,000 paying customers would just shut down.

“We still have several thousands of happy customers using that network, despite the fact Commander made no real investment in it from the day they bought it,” said Ashton.

“I can’t speak for other iBurst resellers but our ARPU is north of $60 per month. Even though their technology was stranded and they weren’t as big and mighty as Telstra, people were willing to pay for the service because it was useful.

“When it launched back in 2003, it was revolutionary - no one else had technology like it,” said Ashton.

Late last week, BigAir rolled out several ‘Unwired migration plans’ that it will offer to its iBurst customers.

The plans include a refurbished modem, provided for $29 off-contract or free if the user signs on for at least six months.

BigAir had earlier been bidding for iBurst’s assets but were notified by the Commander Group’s receivers, McGrathNicol, in late October that their bid had been unsuccessful.

Instead, administrators announced the iBurst network would be shut down no later than December 19, 2008.

Commander Communications went into receivership in August.