Vodafone strengthens Turkish arm with backhaul buy
Published: 6 January, 2010
READ MORE: M&A | Turkey | Vodafone | Fixed-line | Backhaul
Vodafone's Turkish arm suffered service revenue declines in the last quarter and the cellco was rumored to be keen to offload it to Deutsche Telekom. Now it appears to be investing in making the operator more competitive instead, acquiring fixed line carrier Borusan Telekom, largely for its backhaul network.
The purchase of Borusan, for an undisclosed sum, will give Vodafone the ability to compete in fixed/mobile convergence with incumbent Turk Telecom, but more importantly, it will gain access to a national fiber optic network, increasing its backhaul capacity and making it less dependent on leasing lines from the national carrier.
Vodafone Turkey CEO Serpil Timuray said the deal will also help Vodafone add corporate clients, as companies increasingly look to buy fixed and mobile services from one supplier.
Borusan had gross assets of $18m for the year ended 31 December 2008 and net revenues of $70m. According to Bloomberg, an earlier attempt to sell Borusan valued the firm at $77m.
More M&A News
More TURKEY News
More VODAFONE GROUP News
COMMENTS
Carrier Broadband Performance: Africa & Middle East
Carriers are using mobile broadband as their weapon of choice in the fight against the commoditization of voice and falling ARPU. This...
Voice over LTE: Market Analysis and Forecasts
VoLTE offer unique advantages in lowering a carrier's voice infrastructure economics and promises to improve voice quality, device...
Satellite Phones: Will Dual Mode Help the Phoenix Rise from the Ashes?
Satellite phones have followed an arduous path since their much-hyped launch more than a decade ago. The hype was followed by an e...
