America Movil looks to acquire stake in Telekom Austria (Austria)
Mexico based telecom operator, America Movil is said to be eyeing a stake in Telekom Austria as a means to extend its business in Europe, according to Reuters.
As per the report, billionare and America Movil owner Carlos Slim, has held initial talks with two of Telekom Austria’s largest investors: a group containing entrepreneurs Ronny Pecik and Naguib Sawiris (20 percent), and Austrian state holding company OeIAG, the largest shareholder with a 28.4 percent stake.
Earlier this month, America Movil announced plans to buy up to 28 percent of Dutch operator KPN in a deal valued at more than US$3 billion, its first major foray into Europe. It already holds a 4.8 percent stake in the Dutch incumbent. Reuters notes that the cash-rich firm would have enough money to fund its EUR8-per-share offer for the KPN stake, and still have a US$1 billion war chest available for further acquisitions. However, KPN has said the offer undervalues the company.
The report claims that if Slim joins forces with Pecik’s group it could fuel talk of a takeover at Telekom Austria, although this is thought to be difficult because of the Austrian government’s 28.4 percent ‘blocking’ stake in the firm. Pecik and Sawiris are also thought to be demanding seats on an expanded supervisory board at Telekom Austria.
Both entrepreneurs may end up holding their stake in Telekom Austria for up to two years before selling to a strategic investor, revealed the report citing Austrian magazine Format as its source.
Brazil adds 2.2 million subscribers in April (Brazil)
Brazil added 2.2 million new subscribers in the month of April, representing an increase of 0.86 percent compared to March 2012. 3G terminals (mobile broadband) totaled 54.3 million hits, as reported by telecommunications regulator Anatel.
As per a report by DJN, TIM Participacoes SA added the most subscribers in the month, with 37 percent of net additions, far above second-placed Oi SA with 23 percent. Telefonica Brasil SA was third, with 22 percent of total additions, and Claro, the local unit of Mexico’s America Movil SA (was fourth with 16 percent.
Further, Telefonica, part of Spain’s Telefonica SA, was still the largest operator overall, with nearly 30 percent market share. TIM, a unit of Telecom Italia SpA was second with 27 percent, Claro was third with 24 percent and Oi had 19 percent.
America Movil may acquire a 28% stake in KPN for $4.2 billion (Latin America, Europe)
Telecom group America Movil has reportedly made an offer to acquire 28 percent of Dutch telecom company KPN for $10.37 a share. According to reports, the deal valued to be $4.2 billion would enable America Movil to enhance its presence in the Europe market, so as to make up for the stagnant growth in its domestic market.
Carlos Garcia Moreno, CFO, said that America Movil is a long-term investor and they think if the company executes the strategy well, it will perform well. It’s a company that should benefit for the long term.
He added that KPN is the target for their first investment. Europe is facing some times which are economically challenging. They have a long-term investment horizon. They have taken their time. This one seems to make a lot of sense. Further, KPN is a solid company and in the long term seems to be a good return on investment. This is a market they do not know. Being closer to the action through the likes of KPN can give a better view for them.
America Movil writes to ICT Minister over regulations (Colombia)
Telecom operator America Movil has written to the Colombian government asking them to stop targeting the operator over price controls and regulations, as reported by BN.
As per the report, Alejandro Cantu, the carrier’s general counsel, wrote in a letter to Information Technology and Communications Minister Diego Molano, that rules proposed in September that specifically target America Movil would be unfair. Further, the rules would force Mexico City-based America Movil to charge the same rate for calls on its network and to competitors. They would also require the company to pay more to rivals to complete calls on their networks than it’s allowed to charge to receive calls from them.
Cantu said that these measures affect the legal certainty that is required to make investments in a capital-intensive industry, in the letter dated March 15. Further, regulations should tend to promote competition, not competitors.
Claro Brazil partners with NetCracker to improve network efficiency (Brazil)
NetCracker Technology has announced that Claro Brazil has selected NetCracker’s Telecom Operations and Management solution to streamline operations and improve end-to-end visibility of its network. Part of the Mexican telecom group América Móvil, Claro Brazil is the second largest mobile operator in Brazil with close to 59 million subscribers.
According to company reports, Claro Brazil will utilize the NetCracker solution to achieve three key objectives; which include, improving efficiencies through the creation of a unified and centralized view of the transport network, rapidly introducing new services and improve service quality and service delivery by ensuring greater visibility and control of all its transport network assets and enabling faster adoption of new technologies as the company seeks an expanded network footprint.
NetCracker will also be providing Claro Brazil with a full suite of professional services capabilities to ensure successful implementation of the solution.
Andrew Feinberg, President and CEO, NetCracker, has said that they are pleased to be working with Claro Brazil, one of the most innovative and visionary operators in Latin America. Further, NetCracker is looking forward to working closely with Claro Brazil and to delivering a standards-based solution that achieves their network, technology, and business goals.
America Movil Partners with Appia for the launch of ‘iApps’ (Latin America)
Wireless service provider America Movil, has announced the launch of its iApps Application Stores powered by Appia, bringing a vast catalog of apps and games to all America Movil subscribers across Latin America. According to company reports, the iApps Application Stores are now available through America Movil’s operating partners Claro, Comcel, and Telcel reaching over 240 million mobile subscribers in 18 countries across Latin America including Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
Marco Quatorze, Director of Value Added Services, America Movil, has said that with the launch of the Application Stores powered by Appia to all America Movil subscribers, Apps are now available to the majority of Latin American Mobile subscribers. Further, Appia’s carrier-grade solution enabled them to quickly roll out the largest Application Store across Latin America.
Appia’s Application Catalog includes thousands of applications and games for Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, and Java phones. The iApps Application Stores include both paid and free applications such as social media, news, weather and sports apps in Spanish, English and Portuguese. Leading application developers including Rovio and Gameloft are distributing their app through the iApps Application store, along with internationally recognized application developers including Facebook, Electronic Arts, and MocoSpace.
Lukasz Deszczulka, Executive VP Marketing, Tequila Mobile, has said that America Movil’s iApps Application Stores have been a great source of traffic for them. Also, the Latin American apps market is growing rapidly, and Appia and America Movil have made it incredibly easy to reach users and generate downloads.
Jud Bowman, CEO, Appia, has said that Appia is excited to partner with America Movil to bring apps to the hundreds of millions of mobile subscribers in North, Central and South America. As app use continues to grow globally, Latin American is a phenomenal opportunity for application distribution and we expect tremendous growth in app consumption.
Digicel completes acquisition of Claro (Jamaica)
Digicel, a leading mobile telecommunications operator in the Caribbean, has completed the acquisition of America Movil’s Jamaican unit, Claro. According to reports, the operators entered into an agreement wherein Digicel would acquire Claro and sell its assets in Honduras and El Salvador to America Movil.
As per sources, Digicel will reduce the calling charges by US$ 0.035 during peak hours and US$ 0.023 during off-peak hours, across its networks. Further,the acquisition will provide Digicel with 3G access in its domestic market. If sources are to be believed, Digicel is expected to receive a net payment of as much as US$ 350 million in cash for this deal.
AT&T and America Movil to offer IP services for corporates (Latin America)
America Movil, a leading wireless service provider in Latin America has reportedly tied up with American operator AT&T to offer IP services to large corporate organisations within Latin America as well as in Asia and the Middle East.
According to reports, the agreement between the two operators will allow AT&T to access America Movil’s networks across 15 countries in the region, whereas America Movil will be able to use AT&T’s network infrastructure to provide large corporate IP services in the US along with the rest of the world.
Sources claim that the two operators plan to offer multinational companies working in Latin America with a Virtual Private Network (VPN) as its primary offering. Further, Roman Pacewicz, senior vice president (marketing and global strategy), AT&T Business Solutions has said that as part of AT&T’s commitment to deliver consistent and seamless global services for their enterprise customers, they continue to evolve their strategy to establish alliances in key regions in the world which will in turn enable multinational companies to compete better globally.
America Movil to cut down interconnection costs (Mexico)
America Movil’s Mexican unit has reportedly agreed to lower the interconnection costs with four operators. Interconnection cost is the charge levied by network operators on other service providers to recover the costs of the interconnection facilities (including the hardware and software for routing, signalling, and other basic service functions) provided by the network operators.
According to reports, telecom regulatory authority, Cofetel, had asked America Movil’s Telecel unit to reduce the charges in an attempt to improve the competition in the mobile phone market. As per sources, Telecel is expected to reduce the interconnection costs progressively to US$ 0.026 in 2012, US$ 0.024 in 2013 and US$ 0.022 in 2014 from US$ 0.028.
Reports suggest that the regulator has said that the deal includes traffic with NII Holdings Inc’s Mexican unit, Nextel Mexico; America Movil’s fixed-line affiliate Telefonos de Mexico and Marcatel.
America Movil’s increases its stake in Telemex to 93 percent (Latin America)
America Movile, the leading wireless service provider in Latin America, has reportedly said its stake in Telmex has gone up from 60 percent to as much as 93 percent, as a consequence of a shareholder buyout offer. According to reports, the operator will be required to pay around US$ 4.6 billion, to increase its holding, for which the company reportedly sold bonds worth over US$ 5 billion in the UK, Japan, Switzerland and the US since August this year.
As per industry reports, in August, Carlos Slim, Chairman, America Movil had said that they were looking to restructure their telecoms empire by buying out a 40.4 percent stake in Telmex for US$ 0.77 per share in an attempt to reduce administrative costs along with improving its competitiveness in the market.
