CommsUpdate Is 20!

Vodafone’s continued decline prompts Gent to resign

Date: December 18, 2002
Nation: UK

Then: 
In one of many largest information tales of December 2002, Sir Christopher Gent, CEO of UK-based Vodafone Group, introduced his intention to step down in July 2003. The announcement got here after Gent noticed his firm’s inventory valuation slide from a excessive of $326.9 billion in June 2000, to $120 billion in December 2002.

After his appointment in 1997, Gent helped to construct the corporate into the world’s largest cellular group, with 107.54 million subscriptions as of September 30, 2002.

Now:
In an uncanny echo of occasions twenty years earlier, Vodafone Group introduced the departure of present CEO Nick Learn in December 2022. Margherita Della Valle was then appointed interim group CEO and tasked with “accelerating the execution of the corporate’s technique to enhance operational efficiency and ship shareholder worth.” 

With regard to operational metrics, Vodafone Group reported a cellular subscription base totaling 280.35 million as of September 30, 2022. Its market capitalization has decreased massively, nevertheless, and stood at simply $30 billion as of December 2022.

Korea Telecom to merge its 2G and 3G items

Date: December 16, 2002
Nation: South Korea

Then:
Additionally in December 2002, KT Freetel—the cellular subsidiary of South Korea’s Korea Telecom Company—confirmed that its board of administrators agreed to merge the unit with KT ICOM, the group’s 3G cellular unit. The enlarged firm focused a March 1, 2003 relaunch.

The merger was designed to enhance synergies between the 2 sister firms and keep away from the duplication of selling and infrastructure investments.

Now:
KT Corp, as Korea Telecom is now recognized, discontinued its CDMA-based 2G community again in 2012. Whereas its 3G community remains to be operational, the availability of 5G cellular providers is now the corporate’s prime precedence.

KT switched on a small-scale 5G community geared toward enterprise customers in Gwacheon in December 2018, earlier than inaugurating a business 5G service in April 2019. As of September 30, 2022, 7.962 million of KT Corp’s 19.138 million cellular subscriptions have been using its 5G community. 

Quam stumps up EUR150 million to conclude dealings with E-Plus

Date: December 20, 2002
Nation: Germany

Then:
That very same month, Quam agreed to pay EUR150 million in compensation to KPN of the Netherlands for withdrawing from a three way partnership to assemble a 3G community in Germany.

Quam, you might bear in mind, was the defunct German cellular tie-up established between Telefonica of Spain and Finland’s Sonera, which fell aside in July 2002. Telefonica and Sonera embarked upon the pact with E-Plus—KPN’s German cellular unit—in September 2001. The events concerned deliberate to collectively develop a 3G community, together with the sharing of cell websites and community gear, however deserted Quam attributable to issues over the market and a poor take-up for its 2G service.

Now:
The German market underwent a landmark transformation in October 2014. That is when Telefonica Deutschland Holding accomplished the EUR8.55 billion acquisition of E-Plus from KPN, decreasing the variety of community operators from 4 to 3 and creating a brand new market chief.

The unique E-Plus 3G community—which went stay in 2004—was deactivated on December 30, 2021 and Telefonica targeted its consideration on its 3.5GHz 5G community. As of September 30, 2022, Telefonica was Germany’s largest cellular operator with 45.258 million subscriptions, or 38.8% of the market. 

As of September 30, 2022, Telefonica was Germany’s largest cellular operator with 45.258 million subscriptions, or 38.8% of the market. 

VimpelCom pursues enlargement via acquisition

Date: December 18, 2002
Nation: Russia

Then:
Russian cellular operator VimpelCom acquired 100% of the fairness of Kaliningrad-based cellco Extel in December 2002. VimpelCom bought a 49% stake from Norwegian telco Telenor and the rest of the corporate’s shares from different buyers. Telenor, which owned 25% of VimpelCom at the moment, acquired round NOK45 million ($5 million) after tax from the deal.

It’s price noting that Kaliningrad Oblast is the westernmost federal topic of Russia. It’s a semi-exclave, bordered by Poland and Lithuania and located on the Baltic Sea.

Now:
Home enlargement proved to be the tip of the iceberg for VimpelCom (now often called VEON). Having secured a nationwide Russian footprint, it expanded its providers throughout numerous Commonwealth of Unbiased States international locations earlier than making acquisitive forays in Southeast Asia in 2008/2009.

In April 2011, the then-VimpelCom negotiated a $6.5 billion merger with Wind Telecom, a holding firm owned by Egyptian telecoms tycoon Naguib Sawiris. VimpelCom assumed management of Wind Telecomunicazioni (Italy) and Egypt-based Orascom Telecom Holding, which encompassed telecom belongings in Algeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Canada, and Zimbabwe.

This technique was unsustainable, nevertheless. The group has been at pains to streamline its portfolio over the last decade for the reason that Wind deal, and solely owned a handful of operations as of December 2022. In November 2022, Amsterdam-based VEON agreed to promote its Russian working division PJSC VimpelCom (Beeline) to senior members of the latter’s administration crew led by CEO Aleksander Torbakhov in a deal price RUB130 billion ($2.15 billion).

When will Telkom be confronted with a competitor? 

Nation: South Africa
Date: December 19, 2002

Then: 
South Africa’s makes an attempt to introduce competitors into the mounted voice market have been met with a recent hurdle in December 2002. The 2 bidders for a stake in a brand new mounted line operator—dubbed Sentech—failed to fulfill the factors wanted to make a proposal.

The Goldleaf and Optis consortiums, which have been each planning to submit bids for a 51% stake within the new operator, prompted issues with their respective bidding credentials. With the bidding course of in disarray, Telkom South Africa’s mounted line monopoly continued.

Now: 
It was December 2004 earlier than South Africa’s second nationwide operator license was granted. That month, Neotel (now often called Liquid Telecom South Africa), was awarded a 25-year PSTN license by the Unbiased Communications Authority of South Africa.

At launch, the operator didn’t personal any community infrastructure and was compelled to function through a wholesale settlement with Telkom for its first yr of service. In March 2008, Neotel lastly acquired its personal community infrastructure when it bought Transtel in a ZAR256 million deal, though it remained reliant on Telkom for final mile connection.

In fact, the emergence of Neotel has achieved little to decrease Telkom’s dominance over the past twenty years.

In fact, the emergence of Neotel has achieved little to decrease Telkom’s dominance over the past twenty years and the latter continues to assert the lion’s share of mounted broadband and stuck voice subscriptions in South Africa. Intriguingly, it’s the specter of a takeover which will lastly disrupt the established order.

In 2022, we noticed a takeover strategy lodged for Telkom by MTN Group, the South Africa-based agency that owns cellular big MTN South Africa. Nonetheless, a rival merger supply from locally-owned cellular broadband operator Rain has sophisticated issues. Telkom appears to be like set to determine on its deliberate plan of action earlier than the top of 2022.

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