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赢家将巩固澳洲老三的地位。TPG甚至有可能收购iiNet
IINET is locked in a battle with TPG Telecom to acquire Telecom New Zealand's struggling AAPT unit.
The outcome of the fight will determine which emerges as a clear third force in Australian telecommunications.
It is believed iiNet has submitted a proposal that could see AAPT's retail and wholesale arms sold as separate entities.
Sources close to the sale have told The Australian iiNet is positioning itself to snare AAPT's consumer business after a bid from the acquisitive TPG Telecom for AAPT's entire operations failed to pass muster at the final hurdle. AAPT's parent Telecom NZ had been hoping to sell the telco in a $300 million-plus deal but is now moving towards splitting the business, with a view to holding its wholesale fibre division for a possible sell-off into the National Broadband Network.
If iiNet is successful in its acquisition of AAPT's retail business, it will sound warning bells for its rivals Telstra and Optus, which have failed to keep pace with the fast growing internet service provider, and help cement the ISP's aims of controlling 15 per cent of the broadband market.
The sale of AAPT's retail business could add about 120,000 broadband and 230,000 voice customers to iiNet's subscriber base of more than 900,000 combined telephony and broadband services.
IiNet has pursued an aggressive acquisition strategy over recent years in a bid to confirm its position as the nation's third-largest ISP.
This year it acquired Victorian rival Netspace for $40m, and in 2005 the ISP spent $100m to buy OzEmail. Over the past four years, iiNet has bought out about 30 small ISPs.
The potential sale would also act as a major defensive play for iiNet, which has been keen to buy back the 18 per cent stake AAPT owns in the company.
That stake has been a major driving force in TPG boss David Teoh's bid for AAPT. He would have been able to use the position as a launching pad for a full takeover of iiNet at a later date.
Sources say Mr Teoh's AAPT bid may have been weakened by TPG's $373m purchase of wholesale internet capacity provider Pipe Networks this year.
TPG and iiNet have been locked in a fierce price war for Australian broadband users for 18 months, but it has been TPG that has led the market in acquiring new customers.
In the six months to January 31, TPG added 54,000 broadband subscribers while iiNet attracted 22,400 new users. Optus added 13,000 and Telstra, which has been slow to respond to the market's competitive broadband price changes, lost 30,000.
If iiNet buys AAPT's retail arm it will be faced with a tough task in turning around the struggling consumer business. AAPT's latest financial results for the nine months to March showed a continued deterioration in its business. Operating revenues decreased by 16 per cent to $668m in the nine months for the 2009-10 financial year. Revenues are not expected to start growing until 2012.
Telecom NZ says there has been no formal sale process for AAPT but the company's chief executive Paul Reynolds this year made clear the telco's intentions to offload the asset when he described the Australian subsidiary as "non-core" to its business.
IiNet and Telecom New Zealand refused to comment. |
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夕阳西下的晚唐余韵 —— 我读唐诗 (2008-9-26) 着我青衣永飘零 
发表于 2010-7-29 13:17
发表于 2010-7-30 09:55
