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

To: David Wiggins who wrote (2039)	10/25/1999 10:04:00 AM
From: MrGreenJeans	Respond to of 3175

The Independent 10/25 Vodafone cools on launch of hostile bid for Mannesmann By Bill McIntosh 25 October 1999 Chris Gent, chief executive of Vodafone AirTouch, the world's biggest mobile phone group, is understood to have gone cool on launching a hostile bid for Mannesmann, the German telecom and engineering group that unveiled an agreed œ18.2bn for Orange last week. Sources close to Vodafone, a minority shareholder in the Dusseldorf-based firm's German and Italian mobile subsidiaries, admit that the Orange deal has dealt a serious blow to the mobile group, which has been mulling a bid approach to Mannesmann for some months. However, Vodafone believes that Mannesmann is far from holding all the cards. "It's all about the end game," said an insider. "People are being very patient." Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, has over the past few days been looking at possible angles for a hostile bid for Mannesmann. However, the complex nature of German corporate structure ? with union representatives on the board and a 5 per cent limit on outside shareholders ? make it difficult to see how an outright hostile bid would succeed. Mr Gent's preference, say City insiders, would be to lobby Mannesmann shareholders with a view to persuading them to put pressure on the German company's management to consider an agreed deal with Vodafone. Vodafone's partnerships with Mannesmann are seen to give ample opportunity for on-going discussions involving Mr Gent and Klaus Esser, the German company's chairman. Insiders note that the pace of consolidation in the sector over the next year could see the German and British companies become more closely aligned. Weekend reports that Mannesmann may rename itself Orange AG and seek London and New York listings, while keeping its primary listing in Frankfurt, could eventually make the company an easier bid target. "If they did that it could make them more vulnerable," said an analyst. Industry watchers expect Vodafone and several other big telecom carriers, including BT, which is already aligned with AT&T, Japan NTT, WorldComm and a handful of others with market valuations above $100bn, to determine the industry's global structure. They expectmany minority shareholders in mobile carriers to sell out, given their comparative lack of financial resources to go head-to-head with the industry giants. In the near term, Vodafone is expected to seek to increase its holdings where it can, as well as obtain new licences when they become available. And next year, when third generation, high-capacity mobile licences begin to be auctioned, there is also the question of how the company will position itself as mobile changes early the next century from a voice service to an Internet based interactive and transactional service. ¸ 1999 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd.

To: David Wiggins who wrote (2039)	10/31/1999 2:43:00 PM
From: MrGreenJeans	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3175

U.K.'s Four Mobile Phone Companies Gear Up for Record Christmas Season By Kate Norton U.K. Wireless Companies Gear Up for Record Christmas (Update1) (Adds prepaid phone details in 3rd, 6th paragraphs.) London, Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K.'s four mobile phone companies are expected to add 60 percent more customers in the fourth quarter than a year earlier as Britons clamor for pay-as- you-go packages during the Christmas shopping season. Vodafone AirTouch Plc, BT Cellnet Ltd., Orange Plc and One 2 One Ltd. will likely sign up more than 4 million subscribers in the run up to Christmas, beating last year's record of 2.54 million for the period, analysts and industry executives said. Pay-as-you-go phones have become one of the hottest gift items in the U.K. in recent years because unlike normal packages, they don't require a contract or monthly rental fees. Talk time is bought on an as-needed basis, letting a user monitor spending on calls more closely. ``Revenues will go through the roof,' said Steve Jobber, an analyst at Paribas Capital Markets. Demand this year will set records as operators offer cheaper calls and other incentives to lure prepaid customers, steps that could add 1 billion pounds ($1.64 billion) to sales for the four companies over the next year, according to some forecasts. The country's four operators are betting the measures will also encourage pay-as-you-go customers to use their phones more, increasing revenue per subscriber. Prepaid customers, which now account for 40 percent of the U.K. market, typically spend less than contract subscribers. The country's four mobile operators say they've taken steps to ensure there's no repeat of problems that arose last Christmas, when unexpectedly strong demand for prepaid packages led to handset shortages and problems connecting to the network during the holiday period. Customer Services Vodafone AirTouch, the country's largest wireless company, said it ``struggled' to keep up with demand last Christmas, but it's invested 20 million pounds on customer services this year to ready itself for the holiday season. Orange and One 2 One have also opened new call centers to handle customer requests for connection and additional talk time. BT Cellnet said it's also prepared. At the same time, all four are scrambling to stimulate demand and grab a larger share of the country's booming mobile market. Half the U.K. population will own a mobile phone within two years, compared with 22 percent at the end of 1998, analysts predict. Vodafone AirTouch, for example, Thursday announced new call discounts for contract customers, aimed at seasonal shoppers. The company's distribution network also is better than those of its rivals and it has more sales agreements with supermarkets, putting Vodafone in a good position to exploit prepaid demand, analysts said. Higher Spending Even No. 3 mobile operator Orange, which has traditionally focused on higher-spending contract customers, has cut its prepaid call prices by more than 50 percent, in acknowledgement of prepaid's role as the force behind the industry's growth. It's spending between 15 million and 20 million pounds to advertise the campaign, which it expects to boost its share of the pay-as- you-go market to 20 percent in the fourth quarter from 11 percent in the third. U.K. phone regulator Dave Edmonds is concerned the mobile operators may be overwhelmed by the estimated 3.5 million new prepaid customers this quarter he's demanded to see their plans to handle the Christmas rush. Analysts, however, say there's little cause for concern. After being caught off guard last year, the mobile operators are eager to ensure they don't lose out on potential sales again, especially after a string of record quarters. ``The operators saw the third quarter was stunning and should be drawing conclusions from that,' said John Tysoe, an analyst at WestLB Panmure in London. The measures they're taking won't all translate into profit, though, since price declines and costs to sign up new subscribers will drag down margins, Paribas' Jobber said. ¸1999 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Trademarks.