The Brazilian telecom sector is a hotbed of deal-making activity in 2020. And regional consolidation is a theme.
While industry observers are focused on the high-profile auction of Oi’s mobile assets—which is scheduled to take place on December 14—a series of broadband-centric deals have taken place under the radar.
Today, we explore the companies who are pulling the strings.
Earlier this month, UK fixed-line operator TalkTalk received a proposal from its minority shareholder Toscafund Asset Management.
Toscafund made an offer of GBP0.97 per share in a bid to take the company private. If approved by the company’s owners—who include founder Sir Charles Dunstone, the telco’s majority shareholder—the deal will value TalkTalk at a cool GBP1.1 billion.
Altice USA recently saw its shocking takeover bid for Canada’s Cogeco rejected by the latter’s controlling shareholders, the Audet Family.
The unusually-structured deal would have seen U.S. cable player Altice retain Cogeco’s U.S. business, Atlantic Broadband. However, it would sell the company’s Canadian assets to Rogers Communications, which came as a surprise to industry observers in both markets.
After years of speculation that market liberalization was coming in Ethiopia, in May 2020 authorities kick-started the long-awaited licensing process. The Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA) issued a request for expressions of interest (EoI) for two new telecom licenses.
With the deadline now passed, we look at the bidders vying to disrupt one of Africa’s last mobile monopolies.
Following back-to-back 5G-suitable spectrum auctions, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) revealed the registered bidders ahead of this summer’s planned 3.5GHz sale.
Today, we look at 5G auctions to date and identify the operators who are spending big to strengthen their spectrum portfolios.
Headquartered in Amsterdam, United Group is a multiplay telecom and media provider that's developed a large footprint across southeast Europe. Last month, the company secured the acquisition of Tele2 Croatia from Sweden’s Tele2 Group.
The deal is valued at EUR220 million—easily one of United Group’s most notable takeovers.
In December 2019, UK telecom giant BT Group agreed to sell BT Espana to investment fund Portobello Capital. This was the first part of its plan to dismantle and sell off its sprawling BT Global Services unit. This month, BT agreed to offload its Latin American businesses to CIH Telecommunications Americas, marking the second confirmed transaction.
Today we examine BT’s motivations and take a closer look at other businesses that are likely to be sold off.
The ill-advised merger between Brazilian telecom giant Oi and Portugal Telecom—a union that we first heard about in October 2013—ranks as one of the more disastrous telecom tie-ups in recent memory. While Oi’s subsequent financial issues have been well-documented, the slow unraveling of the enlarged company is altogether less clear-cut.
Today we look closer at the fallout.
