Virgin Mobile USA, Richard Branson’s US MVNO, is gearing up for a $506m IPO, according to a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday. The IPO is being led by Lehman Brothers, with Merrill Lynch & Co. and Bank of America Securities acting as joint book running managers. The MVNO leases its […]
It looks increasingly like US MVNO Amp’d Mobile is going to go quiet on Tuesday. The company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, said it may be suspending operations on July 24. It’s probably a good thing that 84 per cent of the company’s 200,000 subscribers are on post paid contracts as […]
Vodafone on Thursday hinted that it would prefer to hold onto its stake in US cellco Verizon Wireless, despite shareholder calls to offload the asset. Arun Sarin, chief exec of Vodafone, said Thursday that the value of the Verizon stake had increased from $10bn to $15bn in 2006 and would continue to increase. He said […]
The mobile VoIP community drew first blood against the incumbent carriers this week, when a UK court forced T-Mobile to interconnect with Truphone. Last month, the VoIP provider complained that T-Mobile had started blocking connections to Truphone’s new 07978 number range, following a dispute over the interconnect fees T-Mobile would pay to connect a call […]
Rebel Vodafone shareholders demanding a shake up of the operator’s capital structure are understood to have made some headway with their demands in the US. US-based shareholder advisory group, Glass Lewis, is believed to have recommended that US investors in Vodafone lend their backing to the majority of the proposals submitted by activist investment group […]
Portugal Telecom CEO, Henrique Granadeiro, is reported to have told Portuguese daily newspaper Diario Economico that PT is not willing to sell its Brazilian mobile operation Vivo to Spain’s Telefonica. Today’s announcement follows a story that broke yesterday that suggested Telefonica had tabled a Euro3bn bid in conjunction with an August deadline for decision. A […]
Spanish super telco Telefonica has issued an August deadline to Portugal Telecom for a response to its bid of Euro3bn for full control of Brazilian mobile operator Vivo, according to reports. It’s no secret that Telefonica has been chasing full control of Vivo, which with 28 million subscribers is the largest MNO in South America. […]
Nordic operator TeliaSonera is to acquire US firm MCT, which has controlling interests in three Eurasian GSM carriers and a minority stake in Afghan operator Roshan. TeliaSonera expects the deal to close during Q3 this year. As well as Roshan, TeliaSonera will gain presence in Uzbekistan, through third placed operator Coscom and Tajikistan, through Indigo-Tajikistan […]
Telekom Austria updated its forecast for EBITDA growth out to 2010 on Monday, including the predicted impact of EU roaming price caps. The key point is that the impact is not going to be particularly significant, despite the widespread predictions of disaster. TA estimates that its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation will rise […]
The launch of Europe’s first ad-funded mobile service provider Blyk has been postponed. The MVNO was due to launch early this summer in the UK, however, according to reports in British newspaper the Guardian consumers will have to wait until October at the earliest before they can sign up. The news will not come as […]
O2’s German division awoke today to the sound of rolling heads, as owners Telefonica sacked the top management. CEO Rudolf Groeger, who left the company two weeks ago, was apparently forced out according to German press reports. Now the chief engineer, Alexander Roeder, is said to have been “on the death list for months, it […]
Canadian telco Bell Canada Enterprises revealed on Saturday that it has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by an investor group led by Teachers Private Capital, the private investment arm of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, Providence Equity Partners and Madison Dearborn Partners. The all-cash transaction, valued at C$51.7bn (US$48.5bn), including C$16.9 bn (US$15.9 […]
Indian operator Bharti Airtel has launched services on the island of Jersey, a British Crown Dependency 100 miles south of the mainland UK. As part of the Vodafone partnership program, the firm, headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal, will take services to market under the Airtel-Vodafone brand. With a population of around 90,000, Jersey is hardly […]
Less than a week after Canadian operator Telus suggested it had its eye on compatriot communications company Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE), it has said it will not submit an offer. Reports on Tuesday quote a spokesperson for Telus saying the “inadequacies of BCE’s bid process did not make it possible for Telus to submit an […]
It has emerged that Saudi Telecom is looking to buy into Malaysian market leader Maxis Communications. The Saudi operator’s plan is to acquire 25 per cent of Maxis, specifically by taking over a 51 per cent stake in its Indonesian operation for some SAR11.4bn ($3.04bn). Maxis is apparently thirsty for capital to fund further overseas […]
T-Mobile UK will be increasing charges for its prepaid customers from the end of July, the company revealed this week. ‘Everyone’ call prices for Pay As You Go users will increase from 12p to 15p per minute from the end of July. While calls on the ‘Mates Rates’ package are increasing from 5p to 8p […]
The exodus of top brass from telecoms companies continues, with Virgin Mobile announcing a double whammy on Thursday. Alan Gow, managing director of Virgin Mobile and Joe Steel, Virgin Mobile’s deputy managing director and commercial director, have both announced plans to step down. Gow, who will leave Virgin later this year, has only been in […]
UK mobile operator Vodafone has responded to the proposed shake up of its capital structure by shareholder activist group Efficient Capital Structures (ECS). Not surprisingly, the operator disagrees strongly with the proposals. ECS suggested, in a letter sent Thursday, that the carrier suffers from an “inefficient capital structure”. Further to that, ECS requested that Voda […]
UK operator Vodafone has been sent a list of four resolutions outlining a proposed shake up of its capital structure. The carrier is required to put the resolutions to its shareholders at its forthcoming AGM on July 24. A letter sent to all Vodafone shareholders by investment activist group, Efficient Capital Structures (ECS), states that […]
US MVNO Amp’d Mobile filed for protection under Chapter 11 bankruptcy late on Friday. The company said in a statement, that as a result of its rapid growth, the back end infrastructure was unable to keep up with customer demand. As a result, the company is moving to restructure the business. The company said it […]
