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Technology Stocks : Vodafone-Airtouch (NYSE: VOD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: David Wiggins who wrote (1889)	8/25/1999 11:45:00 AM
From: Chuzzlewit	Respond to of 3175

London calling The Vodafone/AirTouch merger may help speed wireless penetration in U.S. markets. By Blaise Zerega Red Herring magazine From the August 1999 issue In January San Francisco-based AirTouch Communications agreed to be acquired by the Vodafone Group (NYSE: VOD), which is based in Newbury, England, near London. The $62 billion union of the world's two largest wireless carriers creates a company that will serve 23 million customers across 23 nations directly and a total of 60 million through international joint ventures. Red Herring visited Chris Gent, the CEO of the merged company, at the former AirTouch headquarters to hear his perspective on what it will take for the United States to catch up with the many countries in Europe and Asia where more than half the adult population has mobile phones. What are the differences between U.S. wireless usage, which is estimated at about 24 percent, and that of the United Kingdom? The United Kingdom has just overtaken the United States in terms of penetration, but the difference is that the U.K. is now moving at 1 percent penetration per month, while the States is traveling at around a half percent per month. The U.K. will increase its wireless penetration by at least 12 percent this year. Why is the U.S. now lagging behind? Several things have caused this to happen. There is a mess of standards in the United States, and quite confusing propositions are made to customers. You've got this business where, if you're a mobile customer, you pay for making calls and for receiving them. In the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, the caller pays. This "calling party pays" structure has certainly sped up penetration in those countries. It seems more fair. When the calling party pays, you're more open to receiving calls as well as making them, so you're more likely to keep your mobile phone turned on all the time. If you go down the streets of, say, London or Paris, people are walking and talking on their phones in a way that you just don't see in the States. But are the charges prohibitive there? No, the charges are not exorbitant because calls are distance independent. It doesn't matter if it's a call to Scotland or around the corner--there are no roaming charges between countries. Over here in the States, people don't want to pay high roaming charges, so they don't call. How important are prepaid calling plans to wireless adoption? If you're paying in advance for your service and you don't have to pay when somebody calls you, wireless becomes a more attractive option. About 80 to 90 percent of Vodafone's business in the U.K. is through prepay. Can prepay happen in the United States? Prepay is beginning to happen, and we expect to see an explosion. But I think it will take two or three years. AirTouch recently launched a major initiative that cuts the prepaid price per minute nearly in half. Worldwide, wireless voice is predicted to surpass wire-line voice. Will the same hold true for data? I would say that 70 or 80 percent of voice traffic will end up on mobile networks, but data is only just emerging. What is the role of the new 3G standard in speeding penetration of wireless voice and data in the United States? Already in the States there are trials that let you use 3G while remaining on your existing CDMA structure. The same thing is happening in Europe for GSM infrastructure. What matters is that users have a forward migration path and backward compatibility. How do U.S. wireless users benefit from having 3G adopted as the global standard for wireless networks? They could step off a plane from Boston or San Francisco into Paris, and their mobile phone would work. In Europe, where there is only the GSM standard, you see people getting off a plane and 15 seconds later making or receiving a call. You get a bit of that in the PCS world, but given that the United States has such a proliferation of standards, it's very important that CDMA be able to move forward, along with GSM, as part of the 3G standard. redherring.com

To: David Wiggins who wrote (1889)	8/25/1999 9:45:00 PM
From: MrGreenJeans	Respond to of 3175

Bell Atlantic, Vodafone Airtouch Reportedly in Talks About Joint Venture By Lisa Levenson (Editorial Comment: GREAT NEWS! IF TRUE) Bell Atlantic, Vodafone Reportedly in Talks for Joint Venture London, Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Vodafone Airtouch Plc, the world's largest wireless company, is reportedly in talks to form a joint venture with Bell Atlantic Corp., three weeks after the companies agreed to split their existing wireless venture. The Times of London said Vodafone AirTouch Chief Executive Chris Gent is in talks with Bell Atlantic, citing unidentified sources close to Vodafone AirTouch. Analysts said the agreement could involve a merger of Vodafone AirTouch's operations in the western U.S. and Bell Atlantic's cellular unit, the paper said. Both companies declined to comment. A venture between Bell Atlantic, the No. 1 U.S. local phone company, and Vodafone AirTouch could create a nationwide U.S. wireless phone network. Vodafone AirTouch has said it will consider buying or building new networks to extend its reach across the U.S. Vodafone completed its $74.4 billion purchase of AirTouch in June, giving it cell networks on six continents, including a system that blankets Europe. Earlier this month, Bell Atlantic, which has 6.6 million wireless customers, and Vodafone AirTouch agreed to split their PrimeCo Personal Communications LP joint venture, ending a six- month feud over the future of the cellular service provider. Bell Atlantic decided in April to break up the venture, three months after it lost a bidding war to Vodafone to buy AirTouch Communications Inc., Bell Atlantic's original partner in PrimeCo. The breakup left Vodafone AirTouch without service in the Eastern U.S., while Bell Atlantic is set to become the No. 1 U.S. wireless provider following its $90.3 billion purchase of GTE Corp.

To: David Wiggins who wrote (1889)	8/25/1999 10:04:00 PM
From: MrGreenJeans	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3175

Times of London-8/25/99 Gent 'in talks' over Vodafone venture with Bell Atlantic BY CHRIS AYRES CHRIS GENT, the chief executive of Vodafone AirTouch, the world's largest mobile phone group, is understood to be in talks with Bell Atlantic, aimed at creating an ambitious joint venture in the US. Analysts believe that the deal could involve a merger of AirTouch's West Coast operations in the US and Bell Atlantic's mobile phone division, which covers the East Coast. The combined businesses could be worth more than $100 billion (œ62.5 billion). However, Mr Gent, who flew to the US yesteday morning, would have to overcome the ill-feeling between the two companies created when Vodafone gate-crashed merger talks between Bell and AirTouch. Vodafone eventually walked away with AirTouch for œ40 billion. The bitter takeover contest led to the collapse of AirTouch's various partnerships with Bell in the United States, which included an agreement between the two companies not to compete with each other in their home territories. This left Vodafone with the prospect of either having to build an East Coast network or buy one. Conservative estimates suggest that the latter option could cost as much as œ10 billion. Sources close to Vodafone yesterday confirmed that creating a national US network was an "urgent priority" for Mr Gent. The source said : "We regard Bell as a suitable partner for us." One leading London analyst said yesterday: "The cost to Vodafone of acquiring or buying a network in the US would be enormous. "Vodafone acquired the US assets of AirTouch not because it wanted them but because it had to bid for the whole company to get hold of its European assets. "So if it decided to share the assets with Bell to reduce the cost of building a new network, I wouldn't be surprised. The market would be quite relieved if the deal went through."