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To: slacker711 who wrote (3633)	11/25/1999 11:48:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 13582

Vodafone's Gent Is Sharp> From the November 29, 1999, issue of Wireless Week Vodafone Embarks On Charm Offensive By Paul Quigley LONDON--Taxiing down the runway at the Royal Air Force base at Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, amidst the tranquility of rural England, Vodafone AirTouch CEO Chris Gent took to the skies last week in a private Lear jet bound for Frankfurt, Germany. Touching down one hour later in Germany's financial nerve center, Gent embarked on a series of engagements designed to smooth the path for Vodafone's historic bid for Mannesmann AGthe biggest corporate takeover effort in history. Brushing aside the unwanted attentions of over-zealous politicians, Gent has launched a protracted charm offensive appealing directly to the hearts and minds of the people who speak his languageMannesmann's shareholders. Gent has strategically deployed his generals to the world's financial capitals to meet with crucial investors to ensure Vodafone's bid is well-supported, while he issues reassuring sounds about "job security" and "continued growth" to German trade unionists and workers. Gent clearly is taking the biggest gamble in his career, but if he succeeds, he will be prepared for early deployment of a third-generation, global multimedia juggernaut. Despite the full glare of the world's media, Gent's agenda is far bigger than many realize. The end-game isn't Mannesmann's current wireless portfolio per se, which consists of myriad second-generation GSM operations. It's the combination of the British and German firms' subscriber bases and having secured the pole position in their markets when the 3G race begins that Gent is after. Consequently, the next three months of shareholder deliberations will seal the fate of the European mobile superpowers of tomorrow. Gent makes a compelling case for the business and financial logic of the geographic synergies of Vodafone and Mannesmann, one that investors will be hard put to gainsay. The high stakes, however, suggest that other global telcos won't sit idly by for too long. Another player might attempt to crash the party. Such a possibility adds a sense of urgency to Gent's rationale for a blitzkrieg "lightning war" to try and get the whole deal over with before would-be rivals have an opportunity to regroup or retaliate out of pride. Nevertheless, while speculation that such a "white knight" might step forward is rife, no clear candidate stands out. What's more, Mannesmann's CEO Klaus Esser rejects the notion that his firm needs an outside source of salvation. The dynamics of the situation are delicious, a feast for observers. Vodafone has a clear vision for its own long-term future. Mannesmann is wedded to the notion of fixed and wireless convergence. Other European contendersincluding British Tele-communications PLC, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom are still bogged down in bureaucracy and sheer, lumbering size. Where other telcos have both fixed, wireless, cable and Internet plays, Vodafone AirTouch is a straight mobile business with Internet data aspirations ready to take off into the new millennium. Since wireless and Internet are inevitably, inextricably linked, there's no anomaly there. Conversely, integrating fixed, cable, TV and wireless could play havoc with the other telco's billing, back office and customer care systems. With high-level political intervention on both sides of the English Channel producing more heat than light, some observers argue that for Europe to be a truly open and free market, Germany should allow such bids to take place. After all, both Deutsche Telekom and Mannesmann have acquired UK mobile operators One 2 One and Orange plc, respectively, in the last few months alone. The latter sparked Gent's swift move to counter Mannesmann's sudden Orange bid. Fortunately, the political policy wonking seems to have lulled following German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's comments that hostile takeovers "destroy company culture." A British government spokesman for Tony Blair adds: "The Prime Minister would agree with Schroeder that this is something that will be sorted out at corporate level. In the end it is a matter for shareholders." While the Vodafone-Mannesmann siege will drag out into a long, arduous and protracted campaign, Gent's voracious appetite for cherry-picking remains unabated. Next on his list must be the unassailable NTT DoCoMo of Japan. In fact, regardless of whether Vodafone manages to win the confidence of Mannesmann's shareholders, the way is still wide open for the Brits to complete a pan-European footprint that includes Germany. Vodafone could quite easily forego Mannesmann's 2G-based operations and hold its fire for another day, tackling the Japanese first though the London-to-Tokyo flight takes considerably longer than an hour.