French mobile operator SFR, backed by media and telecoms conglomerate Vivendi, has launched a formal public offer for rival French telecoms group neuf Cegetel, Dow Jones reports. SFR has reportedly submitted a filing with the country’s stock exchange watchdog AMF committing to acquiring the neuf Cegetel shares it does not already own for EUR35.90 (USD55.56) per share between 19 May and 13 June. The filing also confirmed SFR already owns 77.9% of neuf’s shares.
On 16 April SFR and parent company Vivendi announced they had received permission from the government to close the purchase of the stake held in neuf Cegetel by the Louis Dreyfus Group. SFR outlined a EUR4.4 billion deal to buy the alternative telco in December 2007. The SFR/neuf Cegetel tie-up will create France’s second largest operator and provide a credible competitor to dominant telco France Telecom.
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French Internet provider’s still eyes mobile market entry; government undecided on possible fourth operator.
Iliad subsidiary Free has had another set-back in trying to get hold of mobile network space in France, following the government’s decision last year not to award it a mobile licence.
According to Dow Jones, Maxime Lombardini, CEO of Iliad, told a French newspaper that the operator was interested in renting network space from the three other French mobile service providers Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom. But all three declined to strike an agreement.
Free wanted to use the operators’ networks at a fee that would be just above cost price as a short-term solution, reports say.
The company is currently waiting on the French government to make a decision on available spectrum in France.
Free applied for the fourth mobile telecommunications licence during last year, but the application was turned down as the French regulator Arcep felt Iliad would not be able to meet the financial criteria.
If Iliad wants to build a network large enough to cover 90% of the French population, it would have to fork out about EUR1.2 billion. Its net profit for 2007 was EUR150.2 million.
At the beginning of April, the French government said it is considering not allocating a fourth licence at all. Apart from Free’s financial situation, the government is also concerned that there is not really space for another operator, Dow Jones reported at the beginning of this month.
Commentators think that the government might decide to sell the available spectrum off in blocks.
In such a case, Iliad would be able to get hold of some parts of the spectrum.
In the meanwhile, CNN reports that Free and another alternative operator Neuf Cegetel will be testing interoperability of their fibre optic systems. This will bring them one step closer to sharing network space within buildings, Neuf Cegetel’s general manager Michel Paulin said.
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- April 16th, 2008
- 12:45 pm
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has approved a proposed takeover of telecommunications operator Neuf Cegetel by Vivendi’s mobile phone arm, SFR, an Associated Press report said.
The Associated Press report, quoting the ministry said under the deal, announced in December, SFR would boost its presence in the fast-expanding broadband market by buying commodity trading group Louis Dreyfus’ 29.5% stake in Neuf Cegetel.
SFR already holds 40.5% of Neuf Cegetel which had said the purchase of the Louis Dreyfus stake was subject to approval from antitrust authorities, the report said.
The €4.4 billion (US$6.96 billion) deal would combine France’s No. 2 mobile operator with its No. 2 broadband provider, reshaping the country’s telecom landscape as companies have begun to invest heavily in rolling out next generation fiber-optic networks to give consumers access to ever faster Internet connections, the report said.
The deal takes telecommunications and entertainment giant Vivendi, which owns 56% of SFR, a step closer to taking full control of Neuf Cegetel to create an integrated telecom provider in France to rival the country’s dominant France Telecom, the report further said.
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- January 14th, 2008
- 7:32 am
French alternative telecoms operator neuf Cegetel has expressed an interest in bidding for Telecom Italia France (Alice) if its Italian parent decides to sell the company. According to Les Echos, neuf’s general manager Michel Paulin confirmed his company’s interest in Alice at a staff meeting last week. Telecom Italia has commissioned Calyon to conduct a strategic review of its French operation but no formal sale process has been launched yet, a source close to the situation told mergermarket. It is understood that no documents have been sent to potential bidders and any decision on Alice’s fate is unlikely before March 2008.
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- December 20th, 2007
- 8:44 am
SFR has confirmed being in discussion with mobile subsidiary SFR and Louis Dreyfus group to buy the latter’s 29.5 percent of Neuf Cegetel. Dreyfus will sell the stake for about EUR 5 billion, at around EUR 40 per share for a stock it bought at EUR 22 in October 2006. Les Echos writes that Vivendi seeks competition authority approval to continue to operate its Canal Plus TV and Neuf’s ADSL TV services. Canal Plus, which is 65 percent owned by Vivendi, has 10.4 million subscribers, versus Neuf’s 600,000 ADSL TV users. Vivendi said that it would not sell off Canal Plus and would rather stay at 40.6 percent of Neuf.
SFR’s acquisition of Neuf Cegetel, which would be followed by a public purchase offer, would merge 56 percent Vivendi owned mobile phone operator SFR and Neuf Cegetel, thus creating a giant to challenge France Telecom/Orange. An earlier attempt by Neuf to merge and share the major investment challenge of fibre network deployment with its ISP rival Free got nowhere, so it chose the SFR option. SFR is Neuf’s biggest customers, generating 10 percent of turnover in 2006. Neuf carries SFR’s voice and ADSL traffic. The two companies invest jointly in WiMAX and fibre. SFR and Neuf are also competitors. Neuf has launched an MVNO on SFR, which had 200,000 subscribers in the second quarter. SFR also bought the fixed and internet operations of Tele2 France and now sells its own SFR Box home gateway.
Analysts see Neuf’s merger with SFR as necessary. The merger would give SFR a chance to better compete against Orange, already well entrenched in fixed and mobile. Mobile network operator Bouygues Telecom also intends to enter ADSL.The merger would also allow SFR-Neuf to make the massive investment necessary to deploy a French fibre network to rival Orange’s.
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- August 20th, 2007
- 3:09 pm
French quad-play operator Neuf Cegetel has formed a partnership with sister Vivendi group company Unversal to provide a EUR 4.99 a month, unlimited legal music download service, covering the full catalogue in many genres, to its 100 percent Neuf Box service for fully unbundled customers. Subscribers will be able to put music on their PC, DRM-compatible MP3 player and mobile phone. They can listen to a 30 second clip of any track, as well, and must connect to their PCs and MP3 players at least once a month to renew the possibility of listening to them over and over again, renewing the licence via two mouse clicks. Also, all 100 percent Neuf Box customers can download an unlimited amount of music in their favourite genre. Broadband customers using the Cegetel, AOL. Very soon subscribers to new subsidiary Club Internet need to sign up to the 100% Neuf Box offer as they migrate. The operator said it working under a six-month exclusive deal with Universal Music, after which it could add other music labels. Neuf Cegetel has over 3.03 million ADSL subscribers, around half as many as market leader Orange France. Vivendi owns 56 percent of second French mobile operator SFR, which is 40 percent owner of Neuf Cegetel.
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The unlimited download service, included in the Universal Music catalogue made available to Neuf broadband customers features several thousand renowned artists, over 150,000 tracks and more than 3,000 videos. There is music from famous labels such as Polydor, Mercury, Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Deutsche Grammophon, Barclay, Island Def Jam Music Group, Lost Highway Records, MCA, Motown, Decca, Philips, Verve and Impulse! Records. All musical genres are represented, and tracks are available from the world’s leading artists like U2, Mika, Olivia Ruiz, The Police, Jenifer, Black Eyed Peas, Calogero, Bob Marley, Tokio Hotel, Bob Sinclar, Michel Sardou and Eminem. The catalogue will be updated frequently, with new Universal Music tracks.
French alternative telecoms operator neuf Cegetel has upped its full year growth target for residential retail sales to 60% on the back of its fast growing broadband operations. The company had 3.032 million high speed customers at the end of June, thanks to the acquisition of T-Online France (Club Internet) and organic growth within its own operation, which added 130,000 new customers in the second quarter. neuf has raised its 1H 2007 sales growth forecast for consumer retail services by 10% to 50% and now expects a 70% rise in the second half of the year following Club Internet’s integration in July. The former Deutsche Telekom-owned unit is expected to contribute EUR60 million (USD82.5 million) in annualised profits from end-2008.
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Bouygues unit Bouygues Telecom confirmed it plans to launch a national ADSL service and has launched a tender process inviting bulk operators to submit offers to provide a network.
The company refused to give any further details.
Les Echos cited unnamed sources as saying the process is already at an advanced stage and several candidates have submitted proposals.
The main bulk providers in the French market are Neuf Cegetel, Completel Europe and France Telecom.
Completel, which yesterday said it has asked its banking advisers to study the possibility of finding a buyer for the group, already has a deal with Bouygues (other-otc: BOUYF.PK - news - people ) Telecom to provide a combined fixed-mobile offer for business clients.
Bouygues Telecom last year submitted a takeover offer for Completel, which was rejected on price grounds.
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Neuf Cegetel has signed a partnership agreement with the Paris Ile-de-France branch of French estate agents federation FNAIM to present flat owners with the operator’s offer to connect their building to FTTx, delivering the 100% Neuf Box service over fibre. The agreement will allow Neuf Cegetel to promote its fibre optic programme through the building managers of the FNAIM Paris metro area network, and to offer its 9pass services to members building managers, property managers, business property consultants, estate agents, etc. This is a further step towards the implementation of the FTTx strategy announced in March. Neuf Cegetel and FNAIM will also join forces to promote Neuf Cegetel’s telecommunications service for enterprises, 9pass, to the federation’s members. 9pass targets sites with less than 20 employees and includes unlimited local and national phone calls, iPBX functions, broadband Internet and a professional e-mail service including up to 50 mail boxes; it also includes optional data storage, security and web hosting.
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French alternative telecoms operator neuf Cegetel has acquired specialist Wi-Fi company Ozone, writes Thomson Financial quoting a report in the Agence France-Presse at the weekend. No financial details were disclosed. Ozone specialises in providing Wi-Fi access in major cities.
neuf Cegetel introduced the country’s first hybrid GSM-Wi-Fi mobile phone in May 2006 and has signed several partnerships with Wi-Fi providers, including one with Ozone last year.
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SFR launches neuf Cegetel buyout offer
