Communications

PT share price reflects a genuine dilemma

5 Jul 2010

The Portuguese operator's shares discount a 50 pct chance that Lisbon's veto will permanently block the sale of its stake in a Brazilian mobile venture to Telefónica. That looks about right. The EU might try to invalidate the veto, but PT won't rush to irritate its government.

Lisbon block of Vivo bid leaves investors hanging

30 Jun 2010

The Portuguese government has used its golden share in Portugal Telecom to block Telefonica's 7.2 billion euro offer to buy out their Brazilian mobile joint venture. Its decision to overrule PT's shareholders is shocking. They must now hope the European Union will intervene.

Google’s phone software rises as hardware stalls

11 May 2010

The search company wanted to shake up the handset market with its Nexus One. It hasn t Sprint is the latest U.S. carrier to say no thanks. But Google s Android operating system for cellphones is quickly gaining market share and that s the bigger prize.

In cellphone wars, computers kill the radio stars

11 May 2010

The future of the mobile handset clearly lies in data and computing. Voice is but an afterthought. That explains the massive transfer of stock market value from former leaders whose roots lie in radio like Nokia and Motorola to Silicon Valley champs Apple and Google.

HP crashes another tech barrier with Palm swoop

28 Apr 2010

The oncefragmented tech landscape is unifying as category leaders snaffle up small fry and invade the turf of other former monoliths. As HP's $1.2 bln purchase of Palm shows, mobility is the newest front line.

Board gender quotas not the way to go

8 Mar 2010

Simply increasing the number of women directors risks producing a merely cosmetic change. Gordon Brown's threat to enforce increased diversity at the top is flawed. What boards need is a wider range of thinking, which would surely require a more equal balance of the sexes.

Verizon Wireless can’t deny dividends much longer

18 Feb 2010

The U.S. phone company has used the prodigious cash flow of its mobile subsidiary for growth rather than share the largesse with minority owner Vodafone. Yet size rules out further deals and Verizon needs cash. Something has to give.

MySpace follows AOL into obscurity

11 Feb 2010

Rupert Murdoch's social networking site has already been eclipsed by Facebook. Once the coveted users of such sites decamp for rivals, it's tough to reverse the slide. The departure of MySpace's CEO after less than a year underscores just how intractable these problems can be.

Buyout barons’ mega-deals may yet deliver

8 Feb 2010

A couple of giant boomera buyouts wiped investors out. But others on the top 20 list have scraped through the crisis. Investors in HCA now appear well in the money on paper. Woes at Freescale and even Clear Channel are waning. But private equity bosses still have work to do.

Latest zombie bid project looks ambitious

11 Jan 2010

UK entrepreneur Hugh Osmond is raising funds for a listed acquisition vehicle targeting overgeared corporates. The need for capital is clear. But the launch comes amid fierce competition for assets. And investors will want comfort on Osmond's fee structure.

Cisco’s issues more than a good quarter deep

5 Nov 2009

The US networking giant sold more gear than expected and cut costs during its latest quarter. It also upped the amount of cash it promises to return to shareholders by $10bn. But Cisco s longterm strategic challenges remain to be tackled.

Guy Hands and Lloyds could use Hollywood endings

23 Sep 2009

The buyout baron and the UK bank are the respective owners of the Odeon and Vue cinema chains a booming sector just now. UK movie audiences have shown cinema to be recessionproof, while 3D films offer the promise of growth. So long as markets hold, that s a good case for IPOs.

Franco-German JV solves UK mobile problem

8 Sep 2009

The 5050 joint venture of Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom s UK operations will create a clear leader in an overcrowded market. Even rivals appear to welcome the prospect of less destructive competition. The challenge will be to keep the perfectly balanced management united.

Telefonica’s Chinese crush no longer unrequited

7 Sep 2009

The Spanish operator s interest in China has always been a oneway street. Now it will broaden its alliance with China s Unicom by boosting its stake to 8% with a $1bn share swap. But this is a small step on a long road. And it s not clear what Telefonica expects to achieve.

T-Mobile-Orange joint venture looks a winner

7 Sep 2009

Deutsche Telekom is on the verge of deciding what to do with its subscale UK unit. A sale to rivals Vodafone or Telefonica under the £4.5bn book value would hurt. But a JV with France Telecom s more successful UK unit would consolidate the market without giving benefits away.

Murdoch makes well-timed attack on BBC

1 Sep 2009

Twenty years after Rupert Murdoch attacked the BBC s public funding, a similar diatribe by son James has received a warmer reaction from peers. His target this time is the BBC s free news website whose existence makes it harder for all UK newspapers to charge for content.

US mobile crackdown promises iPhones for all

7 Jul 2009

That could be one result if antitrust investigations eliminate deals that restrict devices such as Apple s to one network. Mobile phone makers with hit products won t be happy. But the dominant network operators, Verizon Wireless and AT&T, have more to fear.

The LBO club doesn’t look so chummy anymore

4 Jun 2009

Not long ago, the government was probing private equity firms for acting too clubby. As the brewing battle over Clear Channel s proposed debt exchange suggests, however, it could soon be more like open warfare in the land of the leveraged.

Superfast broadband is a dubious recession-buster

16 Jan 2009

The UK is mulling rolling out a fibre network as part of its stimulus package. But fibre is expensive and won t create many jobs. Demand is as yet unproven and industry is willing to spend at its own pace. The UK could probably get a better bang for its borrowed bucks elsewhere.

Paul Allen faces the music at Charter

15 Dec 2008

The billionaire cofounder of Microsoft has resisted restructuring his overleveraged cable TV group, Charter Communications. But now he s in talks with bondholders on a debt for equity swap. With creditors facing a $6.5bn haircut, Allen's reverse Midas touch remains intact.