TIMELINE
A roundup of the major stories in telecoms in the past month, as reported in our daily news service
www.totaltele.com
BUSINESS
Google buys Motorola unit Google agreed to acquire Motorola Mobility for around US$12.5 billion in a deal it hopes will bolster its Android strategy. The purchase is expected to be completed by early next year.
Telefonica restructures Spain’s Telefonica announced a significant restructuring of its organisation to focus on digital services, including the creation of a new unit, Telefonica Digital, to be headquartered in London. The unit will become one of three principal business divisions alongside Europe and Latin America, with its home market operations rolled into Europe.
US blocks AT&T/T-Mobile deal The US Justice Department began a lawsuit to block AT&T’s proposed US$39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA. If the deal does not go through AT&T could be liable to a break-up fee of $6 billion in cash and spectrum.
HP exits hardware market Hewlett-Packard announced it will stop making computers and mobile products, closing its webOS devices unit in the process. The restructuring plans will see H-P focus on software and services, and the company also announced the acquisition of database search company Autonomy for US$10.2 billion.
Clearwire confirms LTE plans WiMAX operator Clearwire confirmed it will roll out LTE in densely populated areas of the
September 2011
www.totaltele.com
US. Later Clearwire’s biggest shareholder, Sprint Nextel, began talks with cable companies that could lead to the acquisition of the WiMAX wholesaler.
Sprint-Lightsquared deal Sprint Nextel agreed a deal to deploy and operate Lightsquared’s planned nationwide wholesale LTE network in the US. Lightsquared will pay about US$9 billion over 11 years.
France Telecom to sell assets France Telecom plans to sell its assets in Switzerland, Portugal and Austria. It has a 20% stake in fixed-line operator Sonaecom in Portugal, a 35% stake in Orange Austria, the country’s third- largest mobile operator, and last year was prevented by the regulator from merging wholly- owned Orange Switzerland with TDC’s Sunrise.
Eircom invests in fibre Irish operator Eircom will invest
E100 million to roll out fibre to 100,000 homes and businesses by mid-2012, in phase 1 of a multi-year operation. Eircom will launch IPTV services on the infrastructure which will ultimately reach 1 million premises in Ireland.
America Movil to buy Telmex Wireless operator America Movil plans to buy the 40% of Mexican fixed-line operator Telmex that it doesn’t already own, for around US$6.5 billion.
Vodafone sells India stake Vodafone agreed to sell a 5.5% stake in its Indian operation Essar to medical services provider Piramal Healthcare for £400 million, reducing its holding to 69.8% and paving the way for a possible IPO. The threshold for foreign investment in a company in India is 74%.
India policy changes India’s Telecom Commission, reached decisions on some major
Developing countries drive mobile growth n Developed n Developing
1,000 800 600 400 200 0
960 885 290 344 382 410 1,013 1,057
policy changes, including a limit to the maximum amount of frequencies a mobile operator can hold and the introduction of a uniform licence fee across all telecoms service areas.
Vodafone set for Wind Hellas Vodafone began talks to merge its mobile business in Greece with rival Wind Hellas. A merger would unite the country’s second- and third-largest operators to challenge market leader Cosmote.
Skype gets group messaging Skype bought group messaging application company GroupMe for an estimated US$85 million.
US cable acquisition Time Warner Cable signed a deal to buy rival cable company Insight Communications for US$3 billion.
NETWORKS
Spectrum auctions Telefonica, Vodafone and France Telecom were among operators to win spectrum in the 800-MHz, 900-MHz and 2.6-GHz bands in
595 2007 616 2008 631 2009 646 2010 Source: Wireless Intelligence
Revenues from mobile operators worldwide will reach US$1.1 trillion in 2012, with developing markets the primary engine of growth and contributing over 40% of the total, according to a new study by Wireless Intelligence. Mobile operators in the BRIC countries—Brazil, Russia, India and China—are set to exceed US$200 billion in revenues, overtaking the US in terms of market size by 2012. Global operator revenues reached US$1.057 trillion in 2010.
an auction in Spain, for a total of E1.65 billion. Another auction is expected in the autumn which could raise a further E2 billion. Telecom Italia Mobile, Vodafone Italy, Wind, 3 Italia and WiMAX operator Linkem are taking part in auctions of LTE spectrum in Italy to be completed in September. And in South Korea LG U+ won 20 MHz of spectrum in the 2.1-GHz band, SK Telecom acquired 20 MHz of 1.8-GHz spectrum and KT Corp picked up 10 MHz of 800-MHz frequencies.
5
Revenue (US$ billions)
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30