Fastweb accepts Swisscom proposal for minority stake
If reports are to be believed, Fastweb SpA’s has accepted an offer from Swisscom AG to buy the remaining shares not previously owned by Fastweb.
The board decided to accept the offer to buy the remaining 17.918% of Fastweb at US$24.61 a share and the Swiss telecommunications operator’s is offering worth US$350.13 million.
According to Fastweb, its board had accepted the offer after a fairness opinion which was carried out by its advisors.
Swisscom will make the offer through its subsidiary, Swisscom Italia and will finance the purchase using existing credit lines or its own funds. Once the company buys all the shares, it will delist Fastweb from the Milan exchange.
According to Swisscom, Fastweb had achieved strong growth since its 2007 takeover of the Italian operator and could take advantage of further growth offered by the telecommunications market in Italy.
But Stefano Parisi, Fastweb’s ex-chief executive, and other Fastweb executives, are under investigation by Rome prosecutors in a tax fraud case.
As per Prosecutors, Fastweb and its rival Sparkle, a unit of Telecom Italia SpA, bought and sold US$2.73 billion in broadband traffic to and from phony companies backed by the Ndrangheta mob of southern Italy. The mob used a series of transactions to filter huge amount of money while the broadband providers reaped millions in value-added tax credits.
Fastweb probe hits Swisscom net profit
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Due to provisions for a tax fraud probe at the Italian subsidiary Fastweb, net profit for the first quarter of Swisscom plunged by over a fifth. 22.1% fall in the net profit has been reported by the operator for the three months ended March 31, 2010 which went down to CHF377 million (USD341 million) from CHF484 million a year ago.
1.3% rise in the net revenues has also been recorded which went up to CHF2.95 billion, courtesy slight recovery in the economy. Proceedings against Fastweb, for which a sum of CHF102 million has been set aside resulted in the poor performance of the company.
Arrest warrants for 56 people had been issued by prosecutors’ in Rome in February, including Fastweb founder Silvio Scaglia over alleged money laundering and tax fraud offences. According to Swisscom, out of a total of EUR2 billion in value added tax (VAT) said to have been evaded by the numerous companies being probed, Fastweb is allegedly involved in some EUR40 million in evaded VAT.
AT&T sells European subsidiary of Wayport
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Wayport Holdings, the European subsidiary of Wayport has been sold by USA based telecom operator AT&T to Hospitality Services Plus for an undisclosed amount. Hospitality Services Plus is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swisscom.
Former Wayport assets will continue to be handled by AT&T in the United States. Wayport was acquired in December 2008 and since then; AT&T has integrated Wayport into its Wi-Fi network.
With more than 20,000 hot spots, AT&T has the largest Wi-Fi network in the U.S and the telco offers its customers access to more than 125,000 hot spots around the world.
Swisscom wins appeal in federal administrative court
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The main elements of Swisscom appeal over a ruling by the competition commission Weko regarding allegedly illegal mobile termination fees has been upheld by the Swiss federal administrative court. The court has overruled the fine of CHF 333 million.
It was ruled by Weko in February 2009 that mobile termination market is dominated by Swisscom besides violating its position as defined under the Swiss Cartel Act. The ruling followed an investigation launched in 2002 into possible abuse of dominant market position by Switzerland’s three mobile operators.
It was found by Weko that Swisscom was market dominant and had violated its position by charging unreasonably high fees between April 1, 2004 and May 31, 2005. An appeal was filed by Swisscom against the ruling in the Federal Administrative Court.
Weko’s conclusion that the operator abused that position to charge higher mobile termination fees was rejected by the court but it also found that Swisscom has a dominant market position. The verdict is open for appeal at the Swiss Federal Court.
The reasons behind the ruling point by point would be reviewed by Swisscom and Weko over the coming weeks and they will decide on next steps. Swisscom has not set aside any provision to cover this fine, which proved to be the right decision based on this ruling.
Swisscom starts review of allegations against Fastweb
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: An in- depth review has been started by Swisscom AG into allegations that its Italian broadband unit Fastweb SpA was embroiled in a EUR2 billion money-laundering and tax-evasion scheme. The decision has been taken as it is felt that legal repercussions could trigger goodwill write-downs and hurt its profits.
Arrest warrants against 56 people, including Fastweb’s founder Silvio Scaglia and four other former Fastweb staff has been issued by an Italian judge alleging they took part in a money laundering ring between 2003 and 2006.
It has also been alleged by the Italian prosecutors that Scaglia was part of a ring with mafia ties that used phony companies to launder money to buy jewels, cars and real estate between 2003 and 2006.
Swisscom-owned Sicap launches mobile money ATM
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: ATM machine for mobile money services has been developed by Swisscom-owned Sicap and ATM manufacturer Wincor Nixdorf wherein users with prepaid mobile money accounts can use the ATM to send and receive money by entering the recipient’s mobile number and the amount of the transaction.
An SMS with a special code will be received by the recipient allowing them to go to the ATM machine to withdraw the cash. The ATMs can also be used for cash top-up and self-service subscription management.
According to J¼rgen Samuel, CEO of mobile solutions firm Sicap, consumers will have to learn how to use the ATM which isn’t quite as straightforward as just sending an SMS directly but the staff can show first-timers how to use the service initially at the ATMs in cellco shops
Swisscom predicts difficult 2010
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The sales and profit of telecom operator, Swisscom will remain under pressure in the year 2010 due to increasing competition in the telecom sector. The announcement was made after a rise in 2009 profits was posted by the company when lower depreciation charges helped to offset weaker domestic demand.
Due to reduction in depreciation and exceptional items relating to the termination of long-term lease agreements in the previous year, full year net profit rose to CHF1.925 billion but 1.6% drop in 2009 revenue to CHF12 billion (USD8.59 billion) was also recorded.
The group’s fourth quarter profit was CHF401 million and its Italian subsidiary Fastweb reported a net profit of EUR35.6 million (USD48.6 million) for 2009.
Swisscom selects Dyaptive DMTS-9000
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Swisscom, a leading Swiss operator will select and purchase Dyaptive DMTS-9000 UMTS/HSPA Network Load and Performance Test System from Dyaptive Systems Inc. Swisscom said that it needs to make use of the latest tools available to help us characterize network performance and predict user experience because of the rapid growth in new data-hungry devices and services.
With the release of every network software, Swiss operator will use the DMTS-9000 Test System. These tests will characterize Node-B and end-to-end network performance in order to measure end-user experience in a controlled lab environment.
Dyaptive’s DMTS-9000 will also help Swisscom to maintain and improve customer satisfaction by simulating user experience, verify Swisscom-specific network configurations prior to field deployment and to gain experience with new network technologies such as HSPA+ prior to broad deployment to the field.
According to Joe Sutherland, President and CEO, Dyaptive Systems Inc, as complex data scheduling decisions are moving into the Node-B with HSPA technologies, it has become more important to characterize network performance in test-beds that are truly representative of the subscriber’s end-to-end experience, including the radio interfaces.
Vodafone to sell stake in Swisscom Mobile says reports
News reports have said that Vodafone are planning to sell its stake in Switzerland’s Swisscom Mobile, where Vodafone has had a 25% stake in the company since 2001.
This comes as no surprise when they have just sold their stake in Belgacom’s mobile unit Proximus and Vodafone are looking to reduce their debt.
Some reports value Swisscom Mobile stake at around 3.5 billion swiss francs (compared to the 4.5 billion swiss francs that Vodafone paid in 2001.
Source- http://www.union-network.org
Technorati : Mobile, Swisscom Mobile, Switzerland, Vodafone
Ice Rocket : Mobile, Swisscom Mobile, Switzerland, Vodafone
