Telecom software provider Mobilise has launched Mobilise Platforms & Investments, a new division created to help specialist telecom technology businesses scale by combining strategic investment, telecom expertise and shared technology.
The division will focus on businesses operating across business support systems (BSS), operations support systems (OSS), mobile virtual network enabler and aggregator (MVNE/MVNA) infrastructure, eSIM, connectivity and adjacent control-plane systems such as roaming, interconnect and numbering.
The telecom software market is highly fragmented. Despite the top three global vendors — Amdocs, Ericsson and Nokia — accounting for “an estimated 38 to 42 per cent of global OSS/BSS revenues” , the remaining 60 per cent of a market valued at more than $70 billion is served by hundreds of smaller, often founder-led businesses with limited access to scale capital.
Many BSS and OSS assets are founder-led and capital-constrained, with no clear succession or scale path. They are often deeply embedded in operator workflows but under-resourced for next-generation deployment, and can be operationally complex for generalist investors to assess, given the regulatory, integration and service-level demands specific to telecoms.
Once these businesses are integrated onto a shared platform, their value compounds: each addition strengthens the commercial reach and technical capability of the businesses already in the ecosystem.
Many specialist telecom businesses have strong products, experienced teams and loyal customers, yet find that limited access to investment, operational infrastructure or new markets holds back their next stage of growth. Mobilise Platforms & Investments has been created to address that gap, drawing on more than 20 years of experience building, operating and scaling telecom platforms.
“There are excellent telecom software businesses out there with no clear path forward, not because the product is weak or the customers aren't loyal, but because the founder is stretched, the capital isn't there and the next step feels too hard to take alone,” said Hamish White, founder and CEO of Mobilise, who has spent more than 20 years building and scaling telecom platforms across Europe, Africa and the Americas.
“For a long time, the only real options were to keep struggling, sell to a generalist buyer who doesn't understand the product or wind down. We built Mobilise Platforms & Investments because we think there's a better answer.”
The division operates as a partner-led joint venture. Instead of buying companies outright, the business works with them first. It introduces its HERO platform to improve how they operate and increase profitability.
If the partnership works well and the businesses are a good fit, an acquisition may follow later. Alongside Mobilise, aligned capital partners with deep telecom sector expertise provide acquisition capital, balance-sheet strength and exit discipline.
“We're not buying businesses to restructure them, strip out costs or give founders an exit while their team is left to figure out what comes next,” White added.
“We're looking for businesses where the product has strong market fit, the customer relationships are real and the team knows the domain better than anyone else.
Those are exactly the things we want to keep. A deal with Mobilise isn't an exit, it's a scale path.”
The new division is open to conversations with telecom technology founders considering growth or succession, operators looking to expand their capabilities and capital partners seeking opportunities within the telecom software market. This includes travel eSIM platforms, embedded connectivity providers needing scale, OSS and BSS software vendors, telecom systems integrators, MVNE and MVNO specialists, enterprise mobility providers and regional delivery partners.
Lead image: Hamish White, founder and CEO of Mobilise.
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