Home > Vodafonewatch > Vodafonewatch Report #88 December 2010-January 2011 Executive Brief

Vodafonewatch Report #88 December 2010-January 2011 Executive Brief

21 January 2011

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Executive Brief from Vodafonewatch, report #88. Click through for: an Extract from this month’s report; the Report Snapshot; or to contact us for more information about the full 46-page report, this industry standard monthly report service, and ongoing subscription access.

  1. GROUP: Polish businessman Zygmunt Solorz Zak joined several candidates that are reportedly lining up to bid for Vodafone and fellow investors’ stakes in Polkomtel — with the apparent strong interest making it less likely that Vodafone will pursue a takeover itself. When a sale might go through is less certain, however, with strategic decision making at Polkomtel having never been conducted at light speed, and reports suggesting that further complications could arise around the mobile operator’s ongoing pursuit of alternative telco Exatel. [pp.4,8.]
  2. Fast developing multinational corporate arm Vodafone Global Enterprise trumpeted two more wins — with Italian gas supplier Italgas, and an apparent contract renewal with Unilever — as well as furthering a stealthy advance into the Americas, as flagged in previous Vodafonewatch reports. In the latest move, the unit is understood to be planning to market machine to machine communications solutions in Latin America. [pp.5,6.]
  3. Vodafone continued recent freshening up of its OpCo leadership layer, by naming two new in country Chief Executives within Europe. Interestingly, both are from the emerging market focused Asia, Middle East & Asia Pacific division — Shameel Joosub, Managing Director of Vodacom South Africa, is to take over much challenged Vodafone Spain; and Vodafone Essar’s Balesh Sharma has been handed the reins at Vodafone Malta. [p.7.]
  4. The Group is said to have put recently retired Safaricom Chief Executive Michael Joseph in charge of a push to create a regional network of mobile remittance systems in Africa, based around M PESA, the OpCo’s much vaunted mobile remittance service, and underlying platform Vodafone Money Transfer. While unconfirmed, Vodafonewatch considers the personable South African and developing markets specialist to be well equipped for such a task, which could further mark him out as a senior statesman within the Group and region (he is already a Vodacom director), at a time when rivals such as Bharti Zain are raising the competitive tempo. [p.8.]
  5. Among suppliers looking to staff up for activity with the Group is services player Accenture, which is seeking to build capability for an as yet unannounced IT outsourcing project in the UK. [p.11.]
  6. US investment Verizon Wireless ended years of speculation — and boosted its battle with AT&T on high value user acquisition — by agreeing a deal to launch Apple’s iPhone in the coming weeks. Among Vodafone OpCos, Vodafone Italy and Vodafone New Zealand appear set to become the next to roll out femtocells, with both detailing plans to trial the devices in 2011. [pp.12,13.]
  7. EUROPE: Vodafone’s Europe Region unit continues to push forward its 3G/HSPA investment programme, with Vodafone Czech Republic announcing expansion of coverage to new areas of the country. In the UK, regulator Ofcom opened the way for Vodafone UK to roll out UMTS900 after confirming liberation of 2G spectrum for 3G deployments. Vodafone Germany announced a further, small scale expansion of its fledgling Long Term Evolution network. [pp.14,16,23.]
  8. Vodafone Germany and Vodafone Portugal furthered a recent Group theme of alliance building around fibre infrastructure, by teaming with energy provider RWE and confirming a long mooted tie up with integrated rival Optimus, respectively. [pp.17,19,20.]
  9. Mobile termination rate reductions remain an unwanted prospect for several Group OpCos, with Vodafone Germany, Vodafone Italy, and Vodafone New Zealand the latest units to rail against planned cuts. [pp.16,18,37.]
  10. Vodafone Netherlands is said to be close to launching a new discount “sub brand“, mirroring Vodafone Germany’s recent o.tel.o venture, and seemingly confirming hints by Group senior management of lower resistance to activity independent of the main Vodafone marque. [pp.18,19.]
  11. AFRICA, MIDDLE EAST, AND ASIA PACIFIC: Vodafone Hutchison Australia left itself open to serious questions over its security procedures, operational health, and — by extension — how well it is handling integration of its two constituent companies, after being hit by widespread customer uproar over network outages, and a major privacy leak. [pp.25,26,28.]
  12. Vodafone Essar was again reported to be close to striking a 3G interconnection agreement with passive infrastructure sharing partners Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular. Meanwhile, Vodafone Ghana’s (VfG) Chief Executive Kyle Whitehill has clearly assimilated efficiency lessons from his time at Vodafone Essar, following up recent outsourcing of VfG’s passive infrastructure by farming out radio network management to Huawei Technologies. [pp.30,32,33.]
  13. Both Vodafone Essar and Vodafone Qatar pushed forward long held fixed line ambitions — the former contracted IT service provider Wipro to support management of wireline plans in the enterprise sector; while Vodafone Qatar selected Alcatel Lucent to roll out fibre infrastructure. [pp.31,41.]
  14. Vodafone New Zealand’s alliance with arch rival Telecom New Zealand has been shortlisted for the country’s upcoming Rural Broadband Initiative , offering a boost to the OpCo after its late 2010 failure to gain participation in the government’s associated Ultra Fast Broadband Initiative. [p.38.]
  15. Vodacom Group appointed investment bank Rothschild to help disentangle its Democratic Republic of Congo unit from its long running ownership dispute and other troubles. [p.42.]

About Vodafonewatch

Report: #88
Covering: December 2010-January 2011
Published: January 2011
Next report: February 2011

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Written by AB · Filed Under Vodafonewatch 

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