Late on September 5 news emerged which suggested that DISH chairman Charlie Ergen had “contacted” wireless giant T-Mobile “according to people familiar with the matter”. Reportedly, Ergen has told T-Mobile’s majority (56.6 per cent) owner, Deutsche Telekom, that he is willing to put together an offer. Also interested in the T-Mobile asset is French telco […]
Pay-TV operator Dish Network is reportedly back in the frame as a potential suitor to T-Mobile’s cellular assets in the US. August 13th saw a $15 billion take-over bid (at $33 a share) for T-Mobile from French cellular operator Iliad firmly rejected as being “inadequate”. Iliad trades as Free Mobile in France. The bid looked […]
The European Commission has cleared the proposed €7.2 billion acquisition of Spanish quad-play operator ONO by the Vodafone Group under the EU Merger Regulation. The Commission concluded that the transaction would not raise competition concerns, as the parties’ activities are largely complementary: ONO’s main activity is related to fixed telecoms, whereas Vodafone is mainly active […]
Vivendi, Altice and Numericable have confirmed that they have signed the definitive agreement regarding a combination between mobile telco SFR and cable MSO Numericable following what is described as “a very constructive dialogue” with the Employee Works Councils concerned. The Vivendi Supervisory Board unanimously selected the Altice-Numericable offer for SFR on April 5. They deemed […]
Mobile operator Cellcom Israel has confirmed it is to enter the OTT TV market. Nir Sztern, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, said that entering a new and penetrated market would require investment and additional operating expenses in order to yield future revenues. “In line with the Israeli Ministry of Communication’s policy to encourage competition in […]
Subscription television and Internet Service Providers are the most improved products or services for the first quarter of 2014, according to the latest results of the National Customer Satisfaction Index (NCSI-UK). Airlines, mobile phones, and landlines also make gains, driving the national level of customer satisfaction up 0.1 per cent to 75.6 on a 0-100 […]
UK comms regulator Ofcom has published plans to safeguard the future of digital terrestrial TV while ensuring the UK can meet the growing demand for mobile broadband. Ofcom suggests the proposals in the consultation would mean viewers continue to have the free-to-view TV services they value without another ‘switchover’, while consumers and businesses would get […]
Vodafone is to launch an exclusive mobile promotional partnership with Internet television network Netflix. The agreement will give Vodafone Red 4G customers in the UK the opportunity to access, via their smartphones, tablets or other devices, a wide variety of movies and TV box sets, including original series, for a period of six months. The […]
Subscription TV and Internet service providers (ISPs) sink to the bottom of the American Customer Satisfaction Index in its annual measure of communications industries. According to the latest ACSI results, ISPs drop 3.1 per cent to an ACSI score of 63 on a 100-point scale, while subscription TV falls 4.4 per cent to 65. These […]
Vivendi has confirmed that its Supervisory Board has decided unanimously to accept a bid from Altice/Numericable for its SFR mobile unit. The definitive acceptance follows a mutually-agreed exclusive period signed on March 14th. The Board said it also carefully reviewed letters and documents that the Bouygues Group decided to send it during this exclusive period […]