NBN challenger Uniti Wireless lists on ASX

THE South Australian internet services provider that claims to offer better services than the National Broadband Network will start trading on the Australian sharemarket today.

THE South Australian internet services provider that claims to offer better services that the National Broadband Network will start trading on the Australian sharemarket today.

Shares in Uniti Wireless (UWL), founded by Che Metcalfe and Sasha Baranikov in 2014, will start trading at 11am AEST on Wednesday.

Uniti Wireless’ initial public offer closed at the end of January with the company overcoming a challenging investor market to raise $13.2 million through the issue of nearly 53 million shares at 25c each.

Post float, Uniti Wireless’ market capitalisation is $32.7 million.

Uniti provides line of sight, fast broadband via towers and has been targeting disgruntled NBN customers in its marketing efforts.

Operational in suburban metropolitan Adelaide and areas of suburban Melbourne, Uniti operates its network independently and does not rely on Telstra’s ADSL copper network or the NBN infrastructure to operate or reach its customers.

The company had been looking to raise as much as $18 million, which would have given it a market capitalisation of close to $38 million.

Both Mr Metcalfe and Ms Baranikov, who will remain with the business as significant shareholders, board members and in executive roles as chief technology officer and chief operating officer respectively, declined to comment ahead of the float.

A note on the Uniti Wireless website said the Adelaide-based company is “excited to list”.

Currently, Uniti has more than 6,000 customers in South Australia and Victoria and has $6 million worth of annual revenue, the note said.

Che Metcalfe and Sasha Baranikov from SA wireless internet firm Uniti Wireless. Picture: Calum Robertson.

Uniti is using the funds to acquire Sydney firm FuzeNet, a non-NBN product reseller, which would add scale and reach to the Uniti business.

Telecommunications industry veteran Michael Simmons is leading the group as chief executive.

“My heritage is in telco and in wireless telecommunications in particular. I developed the business plan to enter telco in the late ‘90s to build a telecommunications business when the market deregulated. That business today is TPG, and I was 26 years with that company.

“Since leaving TPG I’ve been on a number of telecommunications boards, and I’ve also been CEO at Vocus, a listed telecommunications company,” he said.

Uniti is chaired by Graeme Barclay, who has worked closely with Mr Simmons for 20 years.

Former Internode executive John Lindsay is also on the board.

National Nominees and BNP Paribas Nominees are now significant shareholders with stakes of 7.9 per cent and 7.2 per cent respectively.

Uniti employs 61 staff, most of them in Adelaide while Fuze has 22 employees based in Sydney.

The forecast headcount for the merged entity is 72 with the combined entity making a loss after tax of $1.6 million in 2017-18 and expects the statutory net loss to increase to $7.5 million in 2018-19.

Uniti Wireless is among the state’s fastest growing companies, and was ranked third on the BDO Fast Movers 2018 list with an average revenue growth of 176 per cent.

In 2017, it raised $3 million from investors, including Vocus founder James Spenceley and Amcom founder Tony Grist. The company has previously said it will use a $5 million SA Future Jobs Fund grant to create more than 200 new jobs over the next few years.