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The deal has left question marks over Adderton’s future when it comes to the Australian market in general, and his long-standing sponsorship of motorsport in this country.
With no ties to the Boost brand in the US, Adderton has already launched a rival mobile network called MobileX, which he used to back NASCAR cameos for Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown in the last two years.
With the Boost now sold in Australia as well, Adderton is planning to bring MobileX down under as part of his global expansion plans.
“One hundred percent,” he told the KTM Summer Grill.
“I mean, one of the markets I thought that was underserved was broadband. I think that MobileX can play a really big role in broadband.
“We want to go into Europe. We want to go into Asia Pacific. We want to go into central South America. I want to build this as the brand that we eventually tried to do with Boost, but kind of got ourselves caught up.
“So yeah, I want to see MobileX coming in the next few years into Australia. I think that that’s a very, very good likelihood.”
The timing of a MobileX presence in Australia will be driven by various factors, including non-compete clauses that will form part of the Boost sale.
“Obviously you get restraints, because people don’t want to buy a business and then turn around and have you have you go,” said Adderton.
“But I will say that restraints are becoming harder and harder to enforce as you go forward. I find that even in the US with employees that I’ve got that signed restraints, the courts kind of deem them unenforceable until you prove that there’s a damage or a loss.
“From my perspective, it’ll just be a matter of time, really, and energy and effort. If we come into Australia, we want to do it right. So it’s probably more driven around making sure I get the US firmed up.
“But that doesn’t preclude us from bringing Australian drivers over to the US.”
Adderton is also thinking beyond Supercars and NASCAR with MobileX.
“My ultimate aim and drive is I want to have an F1 sponsorship; I think that that would be considered to be a crowning glory for me,” he said.
“But in order to do that, you need a global brand. You just can’t do it within one country – even in just the US, you can’t do it because if you look at the three big carriers, T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T, their brands don’t mean anything outside of America, and so they’re not going to put their names on the side of cars just to get the American audience.
“You need to have a strong presence in Europe and in Asia to be able to go into [F1] and MotoGP.”
As for the future of Boost Mobile in Supercars, that will ultimately come down to the new management – although there are contracts for the pole award and the Gold Coast 500.
“The vibe that we create in the brand and the personality and the culture, that’s hard to replicate, but I think Telstra will have a good shot at it,” said Adderton.
“They’ve got a good team there. It’s going to be interesting to see what they do over the next 12 months.
“I do hope they stay in motorsport, and they do continue to push along the brand lines that we built and the foundation we built. If they do that, I think they’ll be they’ll continue the growth and success of it.”
Watch Adderton at his controversial best in the full episode of the KTM Summer Grill
