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The Greek crisis has scarcely improved their imageIt is estimated victim of an orchestrated by the PS political CabalWe have seen positive signs in many areasThere are also technical obstacles to overcomeThe nomest already easy to understand EnglishAccording to Euronext not likely before OctoberThe Directorate General of tax published end January 2006 1 a statement drawing the consequences of a judgment of the Court of justice of the European communities in October 2005 2It is also more than 30 of the votes at the IMFOn the MTN their value was at the end of second quarter 59But in the end very few original scenes were cutResulting from the merger of the British mobile operator Vodafone and US operator AirTouch in 1999 (1), the Vodafone Group has become one of the main global telecom operators. It is now present in 26 countries around the world and had a subscriber base of 171 million at the end of the first quarter of 2006, of which nearly 8 million 3 G subscribers. The group is mainly in Europe but also has subsidiaries in the Asia-Pacific, in the United States (through Verizon Wireless, established in joint venture with Verizon, which had 53 million subscribers at end of March 2006), in the Middle East and Africa. While Vodafone had pursued a strategy of strongly focused external growth on mobile services, the beginning of the year marked a turning point with the sale of its Japanese subsidiary, which accounted for more than 20 of its turnover. In April 2006, the Group concluded an agreement with Softbank to cede its 97.7 stake for an amount of $ 15.7 billion. Vodafone had met with serious difficulties in the Japanese mobile market over the past three years, with a late launch of its 3 G services and a decline in its market share. The Japanese market had demonstrated the limits of a model based on a comprehensive approach to respond to the required local markets. Meanwhile, Vodafone has increased its presence in the emerging markets of Asia, including in the Indian market.
Still minority in France
In Europe, the Germany, the Italy, the United Kingdom and the Spain are its main markets (approximately 45 of the total of its subscribers), but Vodafone has gradually expanded its presence across the European continent. The France remains the only large European market on which the mobile operator has only a minority interest: SFR (2). You can also note the output of the Swedish market in 2005 Vodafone. Markets of Western Europe, the Group faces competition increased, reflected in declining rates and larger grants of terminals. Revenues were also affected by the decline of the ends fixed call to mobile. While its database of subscribers continue to increase ( 7 in Germany and Italy in one year, 6 at the United Kingdom), the Arpu (3) fell significantly (-6 in Germany and United Kingdom, 5 in Italy). Vodafone on the other hand received the positive dynamics of the Spanish market. The group, focused on mobile services, now faces the structural changes taking place in Europe with the development of fixed-mobile convergent offers by historic operators and the emergence of new forms of competition based on the Internet.
To Central and Eastern Europe
To ensure its growth, Vodafone also turned to the markets of Central and Eastern Europe. In 2005, he took control of MobiFon in Romania and Oskar Mobil in Czech Republic following an agreement with TIW. These acquisitions of 1.8 billion pounds sterling (and 500 million of debt recovery) gave him a strong presence in a market of 32 million people in total. At the end of 2005, he won the auction for the resumption of the mobile Turkish operator Telsim (number two in terms of subscribers on the Turkish market) with an offer of 4.55 billion, ahead of the Egyptian Orascom and MTC koweiti. In Africa, Vodafone is present in Egypt, the Kenya and South Africa. In the first quarter of 2006, following an agreement with VenFin, the British Group increased its stake in the South African mobile operator Vodacom 50. The rest of the capital of Vodacom is held by the South African public operator Telkom. Vodafone is also present in Africa and the Middle East through partnerships. This is the case in the Bahrain and Kuwait where Vodafone could thus extend its brand and its commercial presence. Since 2004, Vodafone focuses on the deployment of its 3 G networks and has launched its services in eleven of its markets. The Group announces 7.7 million of equipment 3 G, including more than 600,000 cards for laptops to end March 2006. To develop the uses on its networks broadband, Vodafone has adapted its mobile Vodafone Live Portal! the 3 g and launched almost simultaneously in 13 countries in November 2004. In 2005, the pure mobile player has announced changes in its organization that reflect changes in the operator. Its activities have been organized around three poles: Europe; Central Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific; "New Business and Innovation". The creation of the latter unit shows the change in orientation of the operator turned to converging services as a new source of growth by combining Vodafone Mobile activities to IP-based services.
The mega-OPA on Mannesmann suites
In May 2006, Vodafone announced a record loss of 21.9 billion - or 32 billion euros (see analysis at p. 5)-, while it had released a positive net result of 6.4 billion the previous year. The loss of Vodafone is largely due to the impairment of assets relating to the acquisition of Mannesmann in 2000 (4). Its turnover for the year rose to 29.4 billion GBP (excluding Japanese subsidiary) and the Group announced an organic growth of 7.5.
(1) - See letter of telecommunications No. 27, p. 5.
(2) - See "SFR is more and more in the colours of Vodafone, future owner", the letter telecommunications No. 187, p. 5.
(3) - Average Revenue per User (Arpu).
(4) - See the letter telecommunications No. 46, p. 6, 7, no. 47, p. 7.
