Following the BT Group’s announcement that it was interested in buying Telefónica’s O2, the company is now also in talks with Deutsche Telekom and Orange about acquiring their jointly owned mobile operator EE. Deutsche Telekom and Orange confirmed on Nov. 26 that they were holding discussions with BT about a possible sale of EE, though Deutsche Telekom called the talks “highly preliminary.” EE has the largest 4G network in the U.K.
The EE talks are going on concurrently with the BT discussions over buying back the O2 mobile network it once owned. A source close to the O2 discussions told Reuters on Tuesday that the previously reported €14 billion ($17.46 billion) valuation for O2 was too high, calling it “surreal.”
Deutsche Telekom and Orange valued EE at about $19 billion in October.
BT is planning to re-enter the mobile market which is currently dominated by four players: EE, O2 Vodafone and 3. Adding mobile would complement BT’s broadband, landline and pay-TV services.
More telecom news from Europe:
Telekom Austria raises $1.24 billion through share sale. The carrier announced on Nov. 25 that it had sold 221.5 shares, about half of its stock, for a total of €997 million ($1.24 billion). The majority owner, billionaire Carlos Slim’s América Móvil, bought nearly 60% of the shares, while OIAG, the holding company for the Austrian government took 28%, leaving 25.5 million shares for smaller stakeholders. Telekom Austria said it plans to use the funds generated from the sale for its “strategic investment priorities” including an accelerated fiber infrastructure roll-out as well as acquisitions.
Report: British intelligence paid Cable & Wireless for data. A joint investigation conducted in part by Süddeutsche Zeitung based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden revealed that Cable & Wireless was paid millions of pounds by Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters for data. There also is evidence suggesting that the company helped the GCHQ break into a rival’s network. Vodafone, which bought Cable & Wireless after the alleged incidents occurred, said an internal investigation did not turn up any illegal conduct.
Altice open to buying Bouygues Telecom. Altice CEO Dexter Goei made waves in France last week when he said his company would be “a natural buyer” for Bouygues Telecom, the third-ranked mobile operator in the country. Altice owns a major stake in Numericable which is in the process of buying France’s second-ranked mobile player, SFR, from Vivendi for $23 billion.
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