merger

Google rivals asked for declarations by FTC (USA)

On 03.11.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A sworn declaration has been seeked by US regulators from Google Inc. competitors and advertisers. The declaration is the part of the regulators probe of the Internet Company’s bid to buy AdMob Inc., indicating the government may challenge the deal.

Google’s proposed purchase of AdMob is under the Federal Trade Commission investigation to find out whether the deal would reduce competition in the market for Internet advertising on mobile phones.

AdMob sells ads that appear on Web pages and applications on mobile phones and the agency is assessing whether the purchase would let Google parlay its dominance in Internet searches on computers to phones.

Declarations are collected by Agency officials when they think there is some significant chance. The court will be asked by the agency to block a merger, or seek to modify a deal.

Google on the other hand has decided to continue the talk with the FTC and provide information. The deal between Google and AdMob will give rise to the largest mobile- advertising company in the USA reigning over 21% of the market in 2009.

According to Thomas Ensign, counsel in the antitrust, competition and trade practice of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in Washington, it is difficult to envision a scenario where this development, if true, is positive for Google-AdMob but it doesn’t necessarily mean the agency is going to challenge the deal.

Agency’s staff might be persuaded by the negotiation between Google and the FTC that the deal won’t harm competition but at the end of the investigation it’s up to the agency’s commissioners to decide whether to challenge the deal in court.

Is UK heading towards merger era?

On 03.09.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: European Union has given its blessing to the most talked about deal of the season and the celebration will soon begin with the consummation of the proposed merger of Orange UK and T-Mobile UK. The telecom sector of UK is vital and highly competitive and the main players have always and loudly protested their support of the benefits of competition.

But with the finalization of the proposed merger, the big five have come down to big four. The current market leader in UK, O2 will be pushed a place down the hierarchy. Vodafone will go further down the order and will be casting around for some way to bolster its fortunes. All these mobile operators will try to cope up with the new and a powerful competition in the form of Orange UK and T-Mobile UK merger and by “competition” they all will mean merging themselves.

Though O2 will not be allowed to merge with Vodafone as the regulators in the UK and in Europe would not allow it too but the two can share their networks on a full fledged way.

The merger is paving the way towards a new trend of merger and collaboration of the entities that have control of two huge networks running the sector by themselves. The new trend will also provide access and services to a variety of MVNOs.

Until and unless a line is drawn by the regulator between the big two, the end user will be disadvantaged by the consolidation.

Tagged with: Europe • European Union • merger • MVNO • MVNOs • O2 • operator • Orange • Orange UK • T-Mobile • Vodafone

EC conditionally approves Orange UK/T-Mobile UK merger

On 03.03.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The recent speculations regarding the grant of conditional approval for the merger between the UK subsidiaries of France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom has been confirmed by the European Commission (EC).

Under the conditions for the deal, Orange UK and T-Mobile UK are required to enter into a joint network sharing agreement with Hutchison 3G UK in order to ‘ensure there remains sufficient competitors in the market’.

A quarter of combined spectrum in the 1800MHz band is also required to be sold by the new enlarged company.

However, consumer rights groups have opposed the approval citing it to be too quick and without the involvement of the UK regulator.

Tagged with: 3G • Deutsche Telekom • Europe • European Commission • France Telecom • Hutchison • merger • Orange UK • T-Mobile • UK

Virgin to offer 100Mb per second broadband service (Britain)

On 02.26.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 100Mb per second broadband service will be launched by Virgin Media this year to extend its speed advantage over rivals BT and British Sky Broadcasting.

A narrowing of full-year pre-tax losses for 2009 from continuing operations from £860.2m ($1.3bn) to £337.5m has also been reported by the company. 28,600 new cable subscribers signed up the network which is the largest number of net additions since the NTL-Telewest merger four years ago.

According to Neil Berkett, chief executive, Virgin’s 100Mbps service would become available to the first customers by the end of 2010; with deployment complete a year later and he also hoped that there will be demand for a 100Mbps product as more households want to watch an internet video, play online video games and download music simultaneously.

Tagged with: Britain • Europe • merger • NTL-Telewest • Virgin • Virgin Media

Telekom Austria’s business merger approved by its board

On 02.24.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The merger of all the fixed-line division and Austrian mobile arm, Mobilkom Austria by Telekom Austria has been given a green signal from its supervisory board. Making benefits from efficiency savings and simplifying the selling and handling of bundled offers is expected to be gained from the merger.

It is also expected that the company’s cash flow will be reduced by EUR80 million. The merger will take place in 2010.

According to Telekom Austria Chief Financial Officer Hans Tschuden, the market developments over the past few years have demonstrated that this step is imperative and the company is convinced that through this merger Telekom Austria will be best equipped to address future challenges, while at the same time it considerably strengthens the group’s earning power.

Tagged with: Austria • Europe • Merge • merger • Mobilkom Austria • Telekom Austria

Argentina seeking to renationalize telecom sector

On 02.23.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 42.3% stake in Telco, a holding company that owns 24.5% of Telecom Italia had been acquired by Spain’s Telefonica in April 2007. However, the merger garnered the attention of Argentine anti-trust authorities since approximately 90% of the local telecommunications market was now controlled by Telecom Argentina and Telefonica de Argentina.

Telefonica of Spain’s stake in Telecom Argentina is diluted in numerous intermediary holdings and is thus equivalent to around 2%. Spain’s Telefonica and Telecom Italia’s merger has also been making rounds recently but both the companies have been denying the rumors.

Telecom Italia was ordered by Argentina’s Anti-Trust Commission (CNDC) in August 2009 setting a 12-month deadline for the sale.

Tagged with: Argentina • CNDC • Europe • merger • South America • Spain • Telecom Argentina • Telecom Italia • Telefonica • Telefonica de Argentina

Orange & T-Mobile confident of EC approval for merger (UK)

On 02.22.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Rapid regulatory approval from European Commission is expected by Orange and T-Mobile for a merger of the UK mobile phone businesses, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom.

France Telecom’s Orange UK and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile UK are planning to combine to form Britain’s largest mobile operator, with 29.5m customers.

The number of UK mobile network operators in UK will be reduced from five to four after this transaction as Telefónica’s O 2 UK subsidiary will be overtaken by the combined Orange/T-Mobile entity.

The matter of concern for the regulators is the fact that whether the three telecom operators, which has never reported a pre-tax profit, could compete effectively after consolidation in the mobile market.

Tagged with: Deutsche Telekom • Europe • European Commission • France • France Telecom • merger • operator • Orange • T-Mobile • UK

Telecom Italia’s future debated by its shareholders

On 02.18.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Discussions regarding the future of the struggling Telecom Italia have been commenced by the shareholders of the company including financial groups Mediobanca, Intesa Sanpaolo and Generali and they have the possibility of a Telefonica merger on the table.

However, the opinions seem to be divided with some calling for a merger with an industrial partner, and others hoping Telecom Italia will stay independent.

Telecom Italia’s sagging stock price has disappointed the shareholders who are hoping to reach consensus for merger before the northern summer.

Tagged with: Intesa Sanpaolo • Mediobanca • merger • Telecom Italia • Telefonica

T-Mobile Slovensko to merge with Slovak Telekom

On 02.17.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Slovak Telekom has adopted a plan to implement the legal merger of Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile Slovensko with effect on July 1, 2010. The decision was taken following the decisions of its Board of Directors and that of mobile subsidiary T-Mobile Slovensko on February 11, 2010.

The combined company will retain the brands, T-Mobile and T-Com (fixed and broadband) and will continue under the legal entity of Slovak Telekom.

A new Executive Management Board line-up has also been announced by the telco which will be effective from the same date. The restructuring is in line with strategic policy at parent group Deutsche Telekom.

Tagged with: Deutsche Telekom • Europe • merger • Slovak Telekom • Slovakia • Slovensko • T-Mobile

Orange & T-Mobile to hand back spectrum to ease merger (UK)

On 02.16.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Orange and T-Mobile have proposed to hand back some of the mobile phone spectrum controlled by them so that it can be used by the rival firms. The move will prevent their planned merger being subjected to a probe by the Office of Fair Trading.

The news of OFT asking the European Commission to investigate the planned merger of the two mobile phone networks instead of the process being dealt with solely by Brussels was welcomed by the consumer group this month.

The merger will create the largest operator in the UK.

Tagged with: Brussels • Europe • European Commission • merger • OFT • operator • Orange • spectrum • T-Mobile • UK