Vodafone CEO plans to retain Verizon Wireless stake (UK)

On 03.25.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Vittorio Colao, Vodafone’s CEO has confirmed that the company has no plans to sell its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless, and will continue to push for a resumption of dividend payments from the company.

According to Colao, he saw no reason to divest this excellent company. He also stated that Vodafone would probably discuss the dividend issue with Verizon by the end of the year.

There had been speculation that if AT&T’s purchase for T-Mobile is approved without too many conditions, then Verizon might make a bid for Sprint. Such a bid would however push back the resumption of dividend payments as the company paid down the subsequent debt pile. Colao comments can be seen as presuming to be against such a takeover.

 

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RCom Denies stake in Swan Telecom (India)

On 11.17.10, In Mobile, By Editor

India’s Reliance Communications has been accused of having an improper shareholding in Swan Telecom by the country’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

According to CAG’s report, Swan Telecom’s application for a telecoms license in 2007 breaches the Unified Access Service Licensing (UASL) regulations.

As per CAG ‘s report, it was evident that at the time of applying for UAS license, Reliance Telecom held a 10.71% stake in Swan Telecom – in breach of laws limiting cross shareholding to 10%. They also reported that the initial application paperwork was sent from an email address that can be traced to the Reliance Group.

According to CAG, since Reliance Telecom Ltd was operating in all the service areas for which Swan Telecom Ltd had applied for UASL, the application of Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd was not in conformity with the UASL guidelines and hence was not eligible to be considered.

However, RCom has denied that it was a shareholder in the company.

As per the reliance spokesperson, the company had no shareholding in Swan Telecom (now Etisalat DB) at the time of grant of license to them or any time thereafter, and that issue is accordingly not relevant to their company.

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Telekom Austria acquires remaining 30% Stake in SB Telecom (Austria,Belarus)

On 10.05.10, In Mobile, By Editor

­The Telekom Austria Group is buying 30% of SB Telecom, the sole owner of the Belarus based mobile network Velcom, for US$459.01 million. The deal is part of a put option agreed between the two companies when Telekom Austria brought its 70% stake in SB Telecom in October 2007.

Settlement will take place within 10 business days and the transaction will increase the Telekom Austria Group’s stake in Velcom to 100% .In addition, a US$339.39 million  portion of the total performance based deferred consideration of US$431.60 million is payable on October 4, 2010 as predetermined performance criteria have been fulfilled. The next evaluation date for the settlement of the remaining US$89.74 million of the performance related deferred payment will take place in Q1 2011.

Final settlement of the performance related consideration is not to be expected before Q1 2012.

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Qatar Telecom mulls bid for Zain’s Saudi Subsidiary

On 10.04.10, In Mobile, By Editor

If reports are to be believed, Qatar Telecom could bid for Zain Saudi Arabia. If the UAE based Etisalat succeeds in acquiring a majority stake in the parent company of Zain, the Saudi government could demand that Zain Saudi stake be sold off by Etisalat because Etisalat already owns Mobily in Saudi.

The stake is expected to be worth around US$925 million, assuming a 25% premium for a controlling stake.

According to Sico Bank’s research reports, a merger of Mobily and Zain seems doubtful since it would violate merger guidelines in Saudi Arabia’s Telecom act. In this context, Qatar Telecom could be a possible nominee for taking over Zain’s Saudi operation considering its planned aims to expand its operations in the region.

Zain had successfully acquired the 3rd GSM license in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2007 for an investment of US$6.1 billion.

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Warid Telecom’s stake to be sold by Abu Dhabi Group

On 02.05.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In order to sell controlling stake in Warid Telecom, the Abu Dhabi Group is in talks with several Pakistani telecommunications groups. If the deal materializes, it will create the largest mobile operator in the country. Although, the company denied revealing the size of the stake, it made it clear that it was looking to offload a sizeable shareholding along with management control.

30 percent stake in Warid Telecom’s Pakistani network was sold by Abu Dhabi Group in July 2007 for USD 758 million in a deal that valued the whole company at USD 2.9 billion.

According to Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and chairman of Abu Dhabi Group, the company is negotiating with PTCL and Telenor.

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Zambian government under pressure to release Zamtel valuation report

On 12.28.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Zambia’s civil society organizations have pressurized the Government to release the valuation report it commissioned to sell its majority stakes in a fixed line incumbent Zambia Telecommunications Company (Zamtel).

According to Fackson Shamenda, former Zambia Congress of Trade Union president, there has not been much transparency in the sale of Zamtel and with the release of the information the potential concerns over the sales will be cleared.

Earlier this year the government had appointed RP Capital to evaluate the telco’s assets, after deciding to sell 75% stake in Zamtel. However they never released the report. This led to complaints saying that there has been no transparency in the process.

According to The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA), eight companies including Portugal Telecom, Orascom Telecom and Vimpelcom have pre-qualified for the stake sale, and those firms are due to complete due diligence today, with bids due by midday. The ZDA will release the identity of those companies that have submitted bids for the stake and after reviewing the bids announce the shortlisted candidates on January11.

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Vodafone may sell its stake in Indian teleco Airtel

On 12.14.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In a move to offload its minority stake, Vodafone Group, world’s largest telecom operator by revenue may sell its 4.39% indirect holding in India’s largest telecom company, Bharti Airtel.

Vodafone bought 10% stake in Bharti in 2005, but sold nearly half of that after it entered the Indian market on its own in 2007. With the current valuation, Vodafone’s stake in Bharti could be worth around Rs 5,500 crore. In a deal that took place last month, Singtel bought 1.52% stake for Rs 3,008 crore. Considering the fact, the present stake could fetch Vodafone as much as Rs 8,700 crore.

At present, Singapore Telecom Company, SingTel is the largest shareholder in Bharti Airtel with about 30.5% and it is set to reach around 32% after a deal last month for another 1.52% indirect stake in the company. The promoters family Mittal hold less than 30% stake in the company now.

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Merger may solve Vodafone- Verizon tensions in the USA

On 12.07.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: According to US analyst, the solution to the problem between Vodafone and Verizon wireless over the latter’s lack of dividend payment from the US operator could be merger.  According to Execution analyst Will Draper the likelihood of the two companies merging together is 30% to 40% as compared to 10%, a couple of years ago.

However, other industry watchers are discouraging Vodafone for any kind of merger as Verizon Wireless will approach the UK-based company for help. Some also feel that Verizon Wireless might make a divided payment next year providing a transformational cash return of nearly US$4 billion to Vodafone.

Vodafone will have to pay a huge tax bill if it sells 45 per cent stake in Verizon valued at US$65 billion. In that case it would have to rely on the only likely bidder, Verizon Communications.

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BSNL puts Zain purchase on hold.

On 12.03.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has put its plan to be a part of the consortium looking to buy a stake in Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Co, on hold. The decision was taken as the information sorted by Vavasi Group has still not been received.

Vavasi Group which is not yet listed in India had tied up with Al-Bukhary group of Malaysia to buy a 46% stake in Zain.  It was trying to add state-owned Indian telecommunications firm like BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd., to the consortium. By joining the consortium, BSNL and MTNL seek to widen its horizon beyond India.

Earlier, Gurudas Kamat, India’s junior telecom minister had said that both MTNL and BSNL are not very serious about joining the consortium.

The state owned telecom companies are facing stiff competition from private sector companies. According to BSNL Chairman Kuldeep Goyal, BSNL’s revenue is going to be severely hit by the latest tariff war in the current financial year.

The company is planning to add 20 million working lines to its present 50 million on the global system for mobile communication platform, over the next six months. Besides, it is also planning to spend INR140 billion in the current fiscal year to expand its mobile services.

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MTNL, BSNL refuse to form consortium to buy Zain stake (India)

On 09.13.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: MTNL and BSNL have refused forming a consortium to buy a 46% stake in Zain.It was earlier reported that India’s Vavasi Group, and Indian state-owned operators BSNL and MTNL as well as Malaysian businessman Mokhtar al-Bukhari would pay KWD 2 a share for a 46% stake in African and Middle East mobile operator Zain Group.According to the statement issued by MTNL and BSNL, they are not participating in a consortium but that they are always on the look out to explore all types of overseas business opportunities to expand operations.

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