[dt]
good morning STK1,
as you could probably tell, i haven't been paying as much attention as i should to the recent goings on with dt: in particular to their recent new share offering and related announced strategic planning and surrounding speculation... believe i was a bit hasty in commenting that dt didn't look likely ... can i take in back? ;)
on the face of it, looks like dt has some newly minted cash ($10.6 billion±) and plans to spend it ... in my limited way, was thinking "either/or" and should have been thinking "and" : after further reflection and a couple of hours "research", believe that while dt is probably gonna be involved in some big deals, that's not to say they won't make a few much smaller investments along the way ...
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looking over the news seems like there might be some room for weaving a few of the recent vocl themes together (strategic partners/china/japan) between vocl/dt/fujitsu... probably shouldn't read too much into all this... but what the heck i'll stretch it for entertainment value:
strategic partners: seems like we've got vocl who has the voip expertise but needs both cash and strategic partner(s), especially a heavyweight systems partner- for not only sales connections, but for product integration.. ; dt who has the cash and is looking opportunities; and fujitsu, a systems player. who needs voip expertise to compete with csco/lu/nortel/ala etc..
china: vocl is sitting pretty in china but probably will need help should that market take off; dt wants to get into the chinese market; and fujitsu who is active in communications in china, wants more..
japan: vocl has been selling in japan and hinting around that something might be up there; dt is interested in closer ties to japan; fujitsu lives there
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and if indeed, dt speculation proves out on Cable & Wireless and/or Sprint etc ... would think there might be some interesting opportunities for vocl thru this more "internationalized" dt... (and especially if dt also ups their stake in vocl)
altho almost month old, this article does a good job on laying out dt related speculation:
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Deutsche Telekom looks for acquisitions
By Bloomberg News
Special to CNET News.com
May 27, 1999, 4:30 p.m. PT
Deutsche Telekom said it will pursue acquisitions in mobile phones, Internet services, and other fast-growing areas as it seeks to kick-start international expansion after its failed bid for Telecom Italia.
Olivetti's victory in the battle for control of its larger Italian rival last week marked a setback for Deutsche Telekom's bid to create a pan-European phone company capable of competing with U.S. rivals. Chief executive Ron Sommer vowed to forge ahead with expansion plans, focusing on "growth" areas, including mobile phones and information technology....
Armed with as much as $10.6 billion from a planned share sale next month, Telekom is expected to look to the United States and Britain for expansion, analysts and investors said. Telekom needs to boost business abroad to reduce reliance on its home market, where it was forced to slash prices more than 60 percent as it lost a third of the long distance phone business to rivals since deregulation last year....
The German company is reported to have bid as much as $16 billion for One 2 One, the U.K. mobile phone company that Cable & Wireless and MediaOne Group want to sell. Such a purchase would give Telekom a foothold in Britain's fast-growing mobile phone market.
The former monopoly wants to continue to play a "major role as global player" in the worldwide telecommunications market, Sommer said. Telekom must continue its international expansion if it wants to avoid becoming "relatively meaningless as a regional service provider in a few years," he said.
Analysts have speculated Deutsche Telekom is looking to invest in Cable & Wireless, the No. 2 U.K. phone company that is frequently tipped as a possible international partner for the German company. Through Cable & Wireless, Deutsche Telekom would get a stronger foothold in Asia, assets in the Caribbean and the Pacific Rim, and a booming Internet business.
In the United States, the German company may want to increase its 10 percent stake in Sprint or even acquire all of it, investors speculate.
news.com
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and following up on dt's interest in asian related business opportunities... china:
"Thursday June 17, 10:40 am Eastern Time
Deutsche Telekom eyeing U.S., China
...On China, Sommer said: ''We have been working with the Chinese authorities and China is a very exciting market in the long term for a global operator.''
biz.yahoo.com
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and japan:
'Monday June 14, 5:04 am Eastern Time
Deutsche Telekom sees mergers as survival
TOKYO, June 14 (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom AG expects European telecom carriers to continue merging and will itself announce a new investment in a carrier before the end of the summer, board member Joachim Kroske said on Monday...
Kroske reiterated that his company is looking for a partner in the Japanese market.
''GlobalOne needs one or two participations from Asian companies,'' he said. ''We also need a Japanese partner, a stake in the company...to provide German headquartered
companies with subsidiaries in Japan seamless services...."
biz.yahoo.com
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btw p.17 of the vocl annual report mentions that by the end of this year dt is committed to purchasing only $21.7 million of products and services..
see ya
s |
