Door open for mobile consolidation

Manufacturing News, Source : TheManufacturer.com
Published : 20 Nov 2002 10:59

Peter Erskine, chief executive of mobile phone operator mmO2, speaking yesterday about the future of its Dutch operation, said the company was ‘very open-minded to reviewing all the options’.

This has been widely reported as an invitation for offers of merger or outright acquisition. “There certainly shouldn’t be five players in the Dutch market one year from now,” he continued.

The Dutch mobile phone market is certainly ripe for some consolidation, with KPN and Vodafone being the only ones out of five operators to make a profit in a market of 16 million people. The smaller players, Orange, Deutsche Telecom and mmO2 have about a million customers each.

Setting a value on the businesses is far from easy, however, given the volatility of share prices and the uncertainty surrounding 3G services.

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