Telefonica Moviles Enters German Market By
Winning UMTS License
PR Newswire - August 17, 2000 16:02
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MADRID, Spain, Aug. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The following press release was
issued today by Telefonica S.A (NYSE: TEF)
The Group 3G consortium, held 57% by Telefonica InterContinental, an
affiliate of Telefonica Moviles, and 43% by Sonera of Finland, today won one
of the six UMTS licenses awarded at auction in Germany.
Telefonica Moviles won the third-generation license with a final offer of 8.409
billion euros, the fourth largest bid among the six winners.
Germany, with a population of more than 82 million and one of the highest per
capita incomes in Europe, has one of the continent's most attractive mobile
phone markets. Its mobile penetration rate of 40% is below the European
average and its revenues per customer is one of the highest. Estimates are that
the penetration rate will be above 90% in the year 2010.
Due to a high population density and appropriate geography, the rollout of the
network in Germany will have one of the lowest per-customer costs in Europe.
Because of these conditions, the German market is valued at 70% above the
U.K. market, for an equal number of licenses. This means that the prices paid
in Germany have been comparatively lower, and more attractive, than the
winning bids in the U.K. auction.
In addition, Germany is the country which has the largest amount of roaming
mobile phone connections with Spain, due to the large number of tourists who
travel from there to this country.
Telefonica Moviles expects to begin operating in Germany in the year 2002 and
its plans include obtaining more than 2 million clients in the first two years.
Cesar Alierta, Chairman and CEO of Telefonica said, "This success, positions
the company to be one of the leading mobile phone operators in Europe. In
spite of the difficulties that had been foreseen, entering the largest European
market through the business with the best perspectives for the future, is a
milestone in Telefonica's international expansion."
The company has already received expressions of interest from various
potential partners in the German operator and has made contacts with
providers who want to distribute their products in Germany.
Telefonica is already present in Germany though the data transmission operator
mediaWays, the largest IP (Internet Protocol) network operator in the country
after Deutsche Telekom. MediaWays manages an Internet access network for
online services for the principal ISP's of Germany and offers corporate
networks and complete internet and Intranet solutions for companies,
integrating voice and data services. The Telefonica Group also has a significant
presence in Germany through Terra-Lycos, the third-largest German portal,
with 2.68 million unique visitors in the month of June; it is also the country's
third-largest ISP (Conmundo), only seven months after being launched.
Telefonica also recently acquired Iobox, the mobile phone Internet portal, with
more than 235,000 registered clients.
Obtaining the UMTS license will allow Telefonica Moviles to provide
multimedia services, offer high-speed access to Internet and to distribute
content, to the largest European market. The Group 3G consortium will offer
voice and date services with unique content and high quality, and will place
special emphasis on human resources and on individualized attention to
customers.
This success, along with the UMTS license that Telefonica Moviles has already
obtained in Spain last March, positions the company as one of the leading
mobile phone operators in Europe.
Telefonica Moviles, through Telefonica InterContinental, is currently taking part
in the auction processes for UMTS license in France, Italy, Switzerland, and
the Scandinavian countries, along with important local partners and international
mobile phone operators.
Telefonica Moviles, with more than 25 million clients -- half of which are in
Latin America -- is among the six largest mobile phone companies in the world.
SOURCE Telefonica S.A.
/CONTACT: Telefonica S.A., press office, +34-91-584-08-44, or fax,
+34-91-532-71-18, or prensa@telefonica.es/
(TEF) |
