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Egyptians eye Bouygues Telecom; mulls partnership with Iliad for 3G licence (France)

  • September 13th, 2007
  • 2:08 pm

Orascom, the Egyptian holding company owned by Naguib Sawiris, is reported to be interested in buying French cellco Bouygues Telecom if it were put up for sale. In an interview with French daily Les Echos, Sawiris said he had not had any talks with the Bouygues group on the matter. The Orascom CEO also said ‘an alliance with Iliad is possible’ for the fourth mobile phone licence that is being auctioned by the French government, although again he stated no talks have taken place. He said he had considered making a lone bid for France’s fourth UMTS mobile licence, but opted against the move, describing the EUR619 million (USD854 million) price set by the French government as ‘steep’. Iliad is the only applicant for the licence and the company has said it expects to spend up to EUR1.9 billion on a launch if its application is successful.

In a separate, but related story French construction and telecommunication group Bouygues has bought an additional 6.5% stake in Bouygues Telecom from BNP Paribas, raising its stake to 89.5%.

   
 

 

Sorry Sawiris, Bouygues not for sale (France)

  • September 13th, 2007
  • 1:54 pm

French cellco Bouygues Telecom is not for sale, according to its parent, construction conglomerate Bouygues Group. Testerday it was reported that Egyptian mobile group Orascom was interested in buying the firm, if it were on the market. Naguib Sawiris, CEO of Orascom, told French paper Les Echos in an interview that he had not had any talks with Bouygues on the matter.

   

 

Bouygues beats expectations (France)

  • August 31st, 2007
  • 3:24 pm

French conglomerate Bouygues’ first-half operating profits beat analyst expectations, thanks partly to a rise in earnings at its telecoms unit, prompting the firm to nudge its full-year sales guidance higher, to EUR29 billion (USD39.6 billion) from EUR28.8 billion previously. Operating profit for the first half was EUR1.05 billion, up 22% from EUR862 million a year earlier, and net profit was EUR655 million, up 16% year-on-year from EUR565 million, on revenues that rose 10% year-on-year to EUR13.3 billion. The 1H EBITDA margin at the Bouygues Telecom division was 33.6%, up four percentage points from a year earlier. Communication services turnover grew by 6.2% year-on-year to EUR2.18 billion. At the end of June 2007 Bouygues claimed 8.81 million mobile subscribers, up from 8.3 million a year earlier.

   

 

 

 

European court rejects Bouygues UMTS licensing challenge (France)

  • July 5th, 2007
  • 10:22 am

The European Court of First Instance has rejected French mobile operator Bouygues Telecom’s attempt to overturn a European Commission decision on UMTS licensing. The company had challenged a decision by the French government to reduce the licence fee for rivals Orange and SFR, originally set in 2001 at EUR 4.95 billion for 15 years. In 2001, the price was reduced to EUR 619 million and the term extended to 20 years, while the percentage of revenue generated from 3G services to be paid was increased. Bouygues complained to the European Commission that this gave the Orange and SFR an unfair competitive advantage and constituted illegal state aid. The operator argued that it was entitled to a lower price and more relaxed terms because it took the risk of not taking part in the initial licensing, whereas Orange and SFR accepted the initial conditions. The Commission rejected the complaint and now the court has now backed the decision, finding that the new licensing system was not discriminatory toward Bouygues Telecom.

   

Bouygues Télécom Q1 sales up 5%

  • May 16th, 2007
  • 6:51 am

French telecoms and construction group Bouygues said its telecoms arm reported a 5% rise in sales in the three months to 31 March 2007, beating market expectations. Bouygues’ telecoms sales reached EUR1.12 billion (USD1.52 billion) compared with a Reuters’ poll of EUR1.09 billion. ‘Net sales from network came to EUR1.06 billion, a 6.5% increase over the first quarter of 2006. This was despite a 17.8% cut in call termination rates ordered by the French telecoms regulator ARCEP which came into force on 1 January 2007,’ the company said in a statement.

   

Bouygues Telecom Q1 revenue up 4.9% to EUR 1.12 bln

  • May 15th, 2007
  • 9:37 am

French mobile operator Bouygues Telecom reported a EUR 1.12 billion revenue in the first quarter, up by 4.9 percent versus the year-earlier period. Network revenue, which exclude handset sales, rose by 6.5 percent to EUR 1.06 million, despite a 17.8 percent drop in call termination charges from the start of 2007. Bouygues attributes its growth to the success of its Neo and Exprima offers, launched on 1 March last year. The operator had 8.73 million customers at the end of the first quarter, of whom 72.4 percent were on package deals. In February, Bouygues said it ended 2006 with 8.72 million total subscribers.

   

SFR to appeal EUR220 million ‘collusion’ charge

  • January 22nd, 2007
  • 11:08 am

Telegeography writes…French mobile operator SFR, backed by Vivendi and Vodafone, says it plans to appeal a EUR220 million (USD260.5 million) fine for alleged market collusion in the French Supreme Court. In December 2005 SFR, along with Orange France and Bouygues, were handed hefty fines totalling EUR534 million from the competition watchdog Conseil de la Concurrence following allegations of market collusion. At the time the Conseil said all three were guilty of exchanging confidential information between 1997 and 2003, commenting: ‘The council is of the opinion that, while the discussions did not concern the price decisions that they were to take, the exchange of information was of such a nature that it reduced the intensity of competition on the mobile telecommunications market.’ The fines, which included EUR256 million for Orange and EUR58 million for Bouygues, were upheld last month by an appeals court. SFR’s rivals have declined to say if they will be appealing their fines.