Telkom in talks to buy CamGSM stake (Indonesia)
PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) is in talks to acquire a majority stake in Cambodia’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, CamGSM, in a deal that could be worth over US$500 million.
According to reports, the planned acquisition of CamGSM would value the cellco at around US$1 billion.
According to Tanri Abeng, Telkom’s chief commissioner, he hopes that the process of acquisition will be completed by the first quarter next year. The company has made it through the bidding process and they are now in talks to get financial details done, but they are surely going to take a majority stake.
CamGSM was established in April 1996 as a joint venture between Luxembourg’s Millicom International Cellular (MIC, 58.4%) and the Royal Group of Cambodia (41.6%).
Millicom plans new strategies to counter Bharti’s Africa entry
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: India’s Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s Africa entry with services such as money transfers, banking and insurance has been planned to be countered by Millicom International Cellular SA, a company with mobile-phone customers in countries from Guatemala to Tanzania by accelerating its growth process and bringing new innovations for the people.
Millicom operates under the brand name is Tigo and was established 20 years ago by Sweden’s Kinnevik Investment AB as a holding company for cellular assets.
Like Bharti, France Telecom SA, Vodafone Group Plc and America Movil SAB de CV, Millicon is also pushing third- generation services for wireless Internet besides broadening its portfolio that includes SMS-based information services and microloans for topping up prepaid balances. Millicom was also interested in some of Zain’s Africa assets that Bharti agreed to acquire for $10.7 billion in March. In the process to speed up growth, the operator is also planning to bid in Costa Rica.
Meanwhile, other Greenfield operations or mergers would also be considered if the company is capable of becoming first or second in their markets and producing at least $100 million in annual revenue.
According to Chief Executive Officer Mikael Grahne, sooner or later markets come to a certain level of maturity and to get growth from then on you need new products and services, so Millicom is very heavily focused on anticipating that and the company will pursue customers who can pay more for extras and better network quality, rather than competing strictly on price of basic services.
Analysts feel that Bharti’s entry into Africa is likely to spark a wave of consolidation as less profitable players exit the market and bigger one resort to extensive investment. Earlier, an investment of as much as 7 billion euros ($8.8 billion) in deals focused on Africa and the Middle East in the next five years has been announced by France Telecom CEO Stephane Richard while Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao announced this month that sub-Saharan Africa is among the three priority areas†for the world’s largest mobile-phone company.
Millicom reports better profit in Q1 (Africa)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Better quarterly profit as a result of cost controls and higher value services has been reported by telecom operator Millicom International Cellular (MIC). As per Chief financial officer Francois-Xavier Roger, the macroeconomic situation remained uncertain, but strong results over the past two quarters meant the firm might beat its own guidance this year.
The EBITDA of the company rose 20% to USD424 million and the revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2010 were USD905 million reporting an increase of 16%. The company had announced earlier that it will return USD800 million to shareholders and that it still had the muscle to make acquisitions but currently, the firm does not seem to have any significant planned acquisitions.
According to Xavier-Roger, Millicom was interested in purchases in both Africa and Latin America, but would only do deals if they fit the company’s strategy of being a leading player in the market concerned.
Telefonica purchase of ETB raises questions (Colombia)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Several market implications might arise with the potential purchase of Colombian telecoms operator ETB by Telefonica as ETB also owns 25% of mobile operator Tigo.
Tigo which is controlled by Luxembourg-based mobile group Millicom International Cellular had 4.19 million subscribers at the end of the year while Telefonica operating under the Movistar brand had 8.96 million subscribers at the end of 2009. When combined, the total subscriber base of the company will become 13.2 million, making it a distant second from America Movil’s Comcel, which ended the year with 28.8 million subscribers.
The merger will also result into four million fixed line subscribers and 1 million internet customers of Telefonica. Telefonica might also sell its stake in Tigo after which the other two shareholders, UNE-EPM with a 25% stake and Millicom with 50%, would have the right of first refusal.
EUR700 million (USD962 million) would be invested by Telefonica to acquire a controlling stake in ETB. 86.59% of ETB is currently controlled by the Bogota municipality and minority shareholders have the remainder. In order to improve its situation in the highly competitive telecom market, a partner is needed by ETB. The telco plans to sell new shares, equivalent to a 36.6% stake.
Etisalat’s Sri Lankan operation begins
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: After acquiring 100% stake in Tigo mobile firm, UAE operator Etisalat has launched its operations in Colombo, Sri Lanka, targeting 1 million customers by the end of the year. A subsidiary of Millicom International Cellular, Tigo was bought at an enterprise value of USD 207 million.
HSPA+ on the network is expected with a connectivity speed of 28 Mbps, on par with the company’s operations worldwide.
According to Etisalat Lanka CEO Dumindra Ratnayaka, within one year, the company will be rolling out 1,500 2G base stations and 500 3G base stations islandwide. Etisalat will be launching its coverage in Jaffna during the mini Infotel exhibitions scheduled to take place there on 26 February
Helios Towers Ghana to buy 750 towers of Tigo
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Millicom Ghana (Tigo), a Ghanaian subsidiary of Millicom International Cellular (MIC) has decided to sell around 750 towers to Helios Towers Ghana (HTG), a direct subsidiary of Helios Towers Africa. Tigo will continue to retain a minority interest in HTG after the completion of the deal.
A long-term leasing agreement has also been signed between the two companies whereby the HTG will provide the cellco with wireless communications towers, including a build-to-suit agreement to support the company’s wireless networks
Airtel- Warid deal receive regulatory nod
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: By receiving the regulatory approval to pay $300 million for a 70% stake in Bangladesh’s fourth-largest cellco Warid Telecom via a new share issue, Bharti Airtel has strengthened its Asian asset portfolio.
If the move is successful, Indian mobile behemoth can compete with global magnates Telenor, Axiata and Orascom Telecom in Bangladesh. The moves have become imperative for Bharti in order to help prop up its profits from the low ARPU, highly competitive Indian market. Kuwait’s Zain Telecom and Sweden’s Millicom International Cellular are also on its target.
Late last year, South African government’s disapproval led to the failure of the Airtel’s deal to merge with South African giant MTN. However, for Bangladeshi investment, Airtel have big plans hoping the investment to surpass a total of $1 billion in the next few years.
Celtel evaluating plans to build mobile network in Ghana
According to a report from Business in Africa Online, pan-African mobile operator Celtel International is considering plans to build a mobile network in Ghana and to that end is conducting a feasibility study regarding the construction of a network in the West African country. The online portal cites a Celtel official as saying that the company is interested in ‘investing substantially’ in Ghana, with the aim of getting a network off the ground within months.
Celtel International already has 15 networks on the continent of which five are in West Africa. It has not clarified whether it plans to introduce its ‘One Network’ service in the country a service that allows Celtel users to make use of networks in neighbouring countries without incurring additional roaming charges but says it is keen to expand its footprint across the entire African continent.
According to Telegeography’s GlobalComms database, Ghana is home to one of the most dynamic mobile markets in Africa. At the last count in June 2006 the number of mobile subscribers stood at over 3.34 million, up from around 2.65 million at the start of the year. By 1 July 2006 GSM operator Spacefon Areeba, backed by Lebanon-based Investcom Holdings, had an impressive 2.018 million subscribers, putting it ahead of Millicom International Cellular’s (MIC’s) Mobitel unit, the oldest of all the providers, which had 737,749 users to its Tigo-branded service. State-owned national PTO Ghana Telecom (GT) claimed an estimated 450,000 subscribers to its GT-OneTouch GSM network, while Kasapa Telecom, the country’s sole CDMA operator, had an estimated 135,700, up from 57,100 at the start of the year.
Source- http://www.telegeography.com
