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Greece to be the most highly penetrated market of the world by 2010 (Greece)

  • August 29th, 2008
  • 5:16 am

Mobile market of Greece has reached a saturation point where there  is no or little room for organic growth through new subscriber additions. In an order to taise the ARPU levels mobile network operators are encouraging prepaid users to migrate to postpaid plans and introducing mobile content and data. However, non-SMS mobile data usage is low, as attributed by the marginal amounts of revenue generated although the deployment of 3G\HSDPA networks provides the foundation for future mobile content services.

Operators serving Greece Mobile market are Vodafone Panafon, TIM Hellas, Cosmote, and Q-Telecom.

Notable highlights of Greece Mobile Forecast include:

  • In 2010, Greece will be the most highly penetrated market in the world. The wireless penetration level will increase from our projected 156.7% in 2008 to 173.3% in 2010.
  • The number of total subscribers in Greece will increase from 17.5 million in 2008 to 19.3 million in 2010.
  • The two largest operators in Greece will continue to be Vodafone Panafon and Cosmote.  Cosmote will continue to increase its market share in the next few years. It will increase from 39.9% to 42.1% from 2008 to 2010.
  • Cosmote will enjoy a higher EBITDA margin at 40.3% and a lower ARPU of US$ 33.74 per month compared to Vodafone Panafon with 35.1% EBITDA margin and $34.43 ARPU per month.

France Telecom gets scent of Wind (Italy,Egypt,Greece)

  • October 1st, 2007
  • 10:04 am

France Telecom is examining the possibility of making a bid for 20% of Egyptian-owned holding company Weather Investments, which controls Egypt’s Orascom Telecom, Italy’s Wind Telecomunicazioni and Greek sister companies Wind Hellas (formerly TIM Hellas) and Tellas (also to be rebranded under the Wind name), reports Italian daily Finanza & Mercati. Head of Weather, Naguib Sawiris, is seeking the sale of a 30% stake in the company to a private equity group, with Blackstone, Texas Pacific Group and Permira said to be interested, but potential investors have reportedly baulked at the EUR2.5 billion (USD3.5 billion) asking price. According to the Italian paper, France Telecom is interested in the stake to help it strategically reposition in Europe and gain a foothold in the Italian market.

   

 

Private equity groups mull Weather stake (Egypt)

  • August 30th, 2007
  • 3:25 pm

Egyptian financier Naguib Sawiris has revealed he is in talks to sell as much as 20% of Weather Investments, the holding company that owns Wind Telecomunicazioni, to private equity funds. Blackstone Group, TPG, Ripplewood Holdings and Permira Advisers are all reported to be interested in buying a stake in Weather, Sawiris said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Last week Italian daily Il Sole-24 Ore reported that Blackstone could buy 20%-30% of Wind for between EUR1.5 billion (USD2.1 billion) and EUR2 billion. Sawiris denied that Blackstone, which vied with Weather to buy Wind from Enel in 2005, is better placed than rivals to buy the stake, saying he has only ‘one preference, which is the price.’ He plans to close the deal by the end of September.

Weather bought 63% of Wind, Italy’s third largest wireless company by subscribers, in 2005 for EUR3 billion and assumed about EUR7 billion of debt. Last year Weather purchased the remaining stake in Wind from Enel for EUR1.96 billion. In February, Weather bought Greek cellco TIM Hellas Telecommunications, in a deal that valued the Greek company at about EUR3.4 billion, including EUR2.9 billion in net debt. Weather also owns a majority stake in Orascom Telecom Holding, the largest mobile-phone company in the Middle East and north Africa.

   
 

 

Fresh Wind in 2Q (Greece)

  • August 13th, 2007
  • 2:50 pm

Greek mobile operator Wind Hellas (which changed its name from TIM Hellas in June), signed up 222,294 net new subscribers in the second quarter of 2007 to reach a total of 4.389 million at the end of June. The total includes sister brand Q-Telecom, its former subsidiary which merged with Wind after the two GSM operators were bought by Weather Investments in February. Q-Telecom’s customer base rose by around 90,000 in the three months ended June 2007 to 1.256 million. Combined pro forma quarterly net loss widened to EUR14.9 million (USD20.4 million), compared to EUR800,000 in 2Q06, on revenues that rose by 7.4% year-on-year to EUR275.3 million (USD377.1 million), while EBITDA dropped 16.2% year-on-year to EUR78.8 million, and operating profit fell 41.4% to EUR26 million, affected by rises in costs related to the company’s re-branding. Monthly ARPU in 2Q07 fell to EUR21.9, down from EUR25.4 a year earlier.

   

 

 

 

Tellas under the Weather

  • August 1st, 2007
  • 3:29 pm

Greek electricity utility Public Power Corp (PPC) has accepted a EUR175 million (USD240 million) offer from Weather Investments for its 50%-minus-one-share stake in Tellas, Greece’s largest alternative telco by revenues. The deal gives Weather, owned by Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris, 100% of Tellas and the ability to bundle its fixed line and internet services with offerings from its recently acquired Greek mobile operator Wind Hellas (formerly TIM Hellas). In a filing to the Athens Stock Exchange, PPC also agreed to continue an existing arrangement to rent its backbone network to Tellas and take telecoms services from the company.

   

 

 

Stormy Weather (or ill Wind?) for Sawiris, PPC talks

  • July 22nd, 2007
  • 6:30 pm

Talks between Naguib Sawiris’ telecoms group Wind and Greek utility Public Power Corporation (PPC) regarding the acquisition of PPC’s 50%-minus-one-share in alternative Greek telco Tellas have collapsed, according to sources close to the matter, quoted by local press. Egyptian tycoon Sawiris, also chairman of Orascom Telecom, is said to have instructed Deutsche Bank to find a buyer for his group’s 50%-plus-one-share stake in Tellas, in line with earlier statements that he would either seek 100% ownership of the fixed line and broadband operator, or exit completely.

Sawiris’ family-controlled holding vehicle, Weather Investments, acquired Greece’s third largest mobile operator TIM Hellas, and its wholly owned subsidiary Q-Telecom, for USD3.4 billion in February, and relaunched the company under the Wind Hellas banner. Weather Investments also controls Italian telco Wind Telecomunicazioni, itself the controller of Tellas, the largest competitor to Greek incumbent OTE, and Sawiris has revealed plans to merge all his Greek assets by the end of 2007, but the strategy rests on Wind acquiring the remaining shares from state-controlled PPC. Domestic firm Marfin Investment Group (MIG) has confirmed that it is also interested in acquiring PPC’s Tellas stake.

   

 

Domestic investment group waiting in wings for Tellas

  • June 26th, 2007
  • 1:56 pm

Greek firm Marfin Investment Group (MIG) has confirmed that it is interested in acquiring domestic utility Public Power Corporation’s 50%-minus-one-share stake in the country’s second largest fixed line telco Tellas. Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris holds the majority stake in Tellas via Italian telco Wind Telecomunicazioni, itself wholly owned by Egypt-based Weather Investments. Sawiris is trying to get PPC to sell its share as cheaply as possible, and has hinted he will sell his stake if negotiations fail. In early February 2007 Weather Investments bought Greek cellco TIM Hellas for a total of EUR3.4 billion, including subsidiary Q-Telecom, and renamed the operator Wind Hellas.

   

TIM Hellas, Vodafone expand National Roaming service

  • May 18th, 2007
  • 7:25 am

Greek mobile operator TIM Hellas and Vodafone Greece are moving to expand the pilot operation of a National Roaming service launched at start-2007. The service is now being made available to their pre-paid customers. The pilot National Roaming service is operating in the areas Cephalonia, Ithaki, Kalamata and the wider region of the Messinian Golf, as well as Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, South Serres and the islands of Crete, Karpathos, Kasos and AntiKithyra. The service operates between their 2G GSM networks and is available to pre-paid users with effect from 17 May.

   

TIM Hellas moves to net profit in Q1

  • May 17th, 2007
  • 1:20 pm

TIM Hellas moved into the black in the first quarter, posting a net profit of EUR 6.3 million versus a loss of USD 8.8 million. The Greek mobile operator’s results were helped by lower interest expenses and improved operating results. Revenues rose 13 percent to EUR 243 million, helped by higher equipment sales as well as some EUR 5.7 million from sister company Q Telecom switching to roaming on the TIM network from Vodafone. Average revenue per user fell to EUR 25.5 from EUR 28.1 a year ago. Operating profit rose 55 percent to EUR 34.3 million. TIM gained 122,078 new customers in the quarter for a total 2.96 million at the end of March.

   

Weather completes TIM Hellas takeover

  • April 27th, 2007
  • 8:40 am

Telegeography writes…Greek mobile operator TIM Hellas Telecommunications has announced the completion of the 100% takeover of its parent holding company Hellas Telecommunications (Luxembourg) by Weather Investments, the telecoms holding vehicle of Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris. The deal was first announced in February, when Weather agreed to buy TIM Hellas and its sister company Q-Telecom, Greece’s third and fourth largest cellcos by subscribers, from Apax Partners and Texas Pacific for a total of USD4.4 billion. Sawiris has also proposed a plan to increase Weather subsidiary Wind’s 50%-plus-one-share stake in Greece’s largest alternative fixed line telco Tellas to 100% by buying out its joint venture partner, Greek electricity utility Public Power Corporation (PPC).