2001 - 2005

This page highlights major mergers and acquisitions in the connectivity sector (including fixed phone line, mobile phone and cable service operators) from 2001 to 2005.

It covers -

• 2001
• 2002
• 2003
• 2004
• 2005

Context is provided by the timeline and note on M&A in other sectors elsewhere on this site.

     2001

C&W America buys Exodus Communications for US$800m

Deutsche Telekom buys VoiceStream for US$45.7bn and PowerTel for US$3.72bn

TelstraSaturn buys Clear to form TelstraClear New Zealand

Centrica buys OneTel UK for £58m

Deutsche Telekom sells nine German regional cable networks to Liberty for US$5bn

AT&T spins off AT&T Wireless

O'Reilly, Soros and others acquire Eircom for €3bn

     2002

AT&T sells AT&T Broadband to Comcast for US$47.5bn

Carlyle buys WCI Cable, Inc

merger of Telia (Sweden) and Sonera (Finland) to form TeliaSonera AB

     2003

Telmex pays US$207m for assets of AT&T Latin America, inc fibre network that cost US$1bn to build

Microsoft offloads Telewest stake for £3

América Móvil pays US$625m for BellSouth's stake in BCP Telecomunicações

Carlyle (46%), Providence Equity Partners (46%) and GMT buy Casema from France Télécom for €665m

     2004

Telefónica pays Latin American assets of BellSouth for US$5.9bn

Cingular buys AT&T Wireless for US$41bn

AT&T Latin America sold to Teléfonos de México

Sprint buys Nextel for US$41bn

Cinven and Altice acquire cable units of France Télécom and Canal Plus for €528m

National Grid pays £1.1bn for UK arm of Crown Castle

Telstra buys Kaz Group for $333m, Trading Post publications for $636m and 50% of Hutchinson 3G Australia for $450m

Optus acquires Uecomm for $227m

Blackstone Group buys New Skies Satellites NV

     2005

SBC acquires AT&T for US$16bn (SBC later rebadges as AT&T)

China Mobile Communications Corporation pays US$300m for People's Telephone

Verizon buys MCI for US$6.7bn

Orascom buys Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA from Enel SpA for €12.2bn

Time Warner and Comcast buy Adelphia for US$17.6bn

Sprint agrees to pay US$1.3bn for mobile operator US Unwired

Indian joint venture Hutchison Essar Telecom pays US$1bn for controlling stake in BPL Communication's mobile operation

France Télécom pays €6.4bn for 80% of Spanish mobile operator Amena

Cable & Wireless buys Energis for £700m

PCCW pays HK$1.16bn for 60% stake in Sunday Communications

Intelsat agrees to pay US$3.2bn for PanAmSat

Blackstone sells New Skies Satellites NV to SES Global SA

Blackstone buys Global Tower from Great Hill Partners for $US225m

Sprint Nextel pays US$427m for IWO Holdings and US$287m for Gulf Coast Wireless

ntl and Telewest announce £6.5bn merger

German cable operator PrimaCom AG sells Dutch subsidiary Multikabel to Warburg Pincus for €515m

KDDI acquires Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) subsidiary ISP PoweredCom for US$1.1bn

Vodafone pays £820m for 10% of Bharti Tele-Ventures, India's leading mobile operator

Arqiva acquires Inmedia Communications from Carlyle Group for £68.5m to form Satellite Media Solutions

Telefónica agrees to buy UK-based O2 Group for US$31.4bn

Level 3 Communications agrees to buy WilTel Communications for US$680m

Carlyle sells Bredbandsbolaget to Telenor

Telenor buys Vodafone Sweden for €1.04bn

TDC acquired by Blackstone, KKR, Apax, Permira and Providence Equity consortium for US$15.3bn

Alltel agrees to spin off landline unit and merge it with Valor Communications in deal worth US$9.1bn

Vodafone pays US$4.55bn for Telsim

SES Global agrees to buy New Skies Satellites Holdings for US$760m

Carphone Warehouse buys Onetel from British Gas owner Centrica for US$272m

Sprint Nextel agrees to buy affiliate Nextel Partners for US$6.5bn

Belgacom acquires network provider Telindus Group for €600m





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