2006 to 2010

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

It covers -

• 2006
• 2007
• 2008

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

     2006

Malaysia's Maxis Communications buys Indian cellco Aircel for US$1.08bn

Telecom Italia sells Venezuelan mobile operator Digitel to Cisneros' Telvenco for US$425m

Shinawatra family sells its 49.6% stake in Shin Corp to Temasek for US$1.9bn

Telekom Malaysia acquires 49% of Cambodia Samart Communications (Casacom) from Thailand's Samart for US$29m

TIM Hellas pays €330m for Q-Telecom

AT&T makes US$67bn bid for BellSouth

Telenor sells its remaining 4.6% stake in Inmarsat for US$137m

Softbank agrees to buy Vodafone's Japanese mobile-phone unit for US$15.4bn

SBA Communications agrees to buy AAT Communications for US$1bn

Liberty Global agrees to sell its French business UPC France to Altice and Cinven for €1.25bn in cash

Verizon sells 100% of Verizon Dominica and 52% stake in Puerto Rico Telephone to América Móvil and 28.5% stake in Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela to América Móvil-Telmex joint venture for US$3.7bn

Sprint Nextel agrees to pay US$1.3bn for affiliate UbiquiTel

Telefónica sells its 60% stake in directory publisher Telefonica Publicidad e Informacion (TPI) as part of Yell's €3.07bn bid for TPI

Level 3 Communications agrees to pay US$1.08bn for TelCove

MTN Group - largest African mobile network - agrees to buy Investcom for US$5.5bn

First Avenue Networks and FiberTower merge in US$1.5bn deal

TeliaSonera acquired 82.3 of Norwegian DSL provider NextGenTel for US$253.7m

Tecom and Dubai Investment Group pay US$283m for 60% stake in Maltese incumbent Maltacom

China Mobile Communications Corporation agrees to acquire Millicom International Cellular for US$4bn

Warburg Pincus and Cinven agree to buy Dutch cable operator Casema BV for €2.1bn

Tele2 pays US$35m for Vostok Mobile Northwest (ZAO Arkhangelsk Mobile Networks, ZAO Novgorod Telecommunications, ZAO Murmansk Mobile Network and Parma Mobile)

Portugal Telecom buys 34% stake in Namibian mobile network operator Mobile Telecommunications (MTC) from government for US$148m

Telenor pays US$1.9bn for Mobi 63 of Serbia

Liberty Global buys Czech cable operator Karneval Media from Betbari Holding of the Netherlands for US$415m

Vodafone sells its 25% stake in Belgian mobile phone operator Proximus to Belgacom for €2bn

Telecom Italia agrees to buy Time Warner's AOL internet access business in Germany for €675m

Carphone Warehouse buys AOL's UK access business for £370m

BCE agrees to sell Telesat for C$3.42bn to Public Sector Pension Investment Board (34%) and Loral Space & Communications (66%) joint venture

Vodafone sells its 25% stake in Swisscom Mobile back to Swisscom for £1.78bn

     2007

Vodafone gains control of Hutchison Essar for US$19bn

LogicaCMG sells its telecoms business to Atlantic Bridge Ventures for £265m

Arqiva agrees to pay £2.5bn for broadcast and mobile phone mast operator National Grid Wireless

Telefonica sells Airwave (UK emergency services communications network) to Macquarie for £1.9bn

Telefonica pays €4.1bn for 18% controlling stake in Olimpia, parent of Telecom Italia

Telecom Italia sells its 10.4% stake in Oger Telecom to Saudi Oger for US$477m

Texas Pacific Group and Goldman Sachs consortium agrees to acquire Alltel for US$27.5bn

Debitel (German reseller of mobile phone services) agrees to buy Talkline from TDC of Denmark for US$756m

BC Partners consortium agrees to pay US$5bn for 76% of Intelsat's parent company

Bell Canada agrees to be acquired by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Providence Equity Partners for US$48.8bn

AT&T agrees to acquire Dobson Communications for US$5.1bn

Macquarie buys Global Tower Partners from Blackstone for $US1.4bn

Telecom Italia agrees to sell its 38% stake in Solpart Participacoes (controlling Brasil Telecom) to pension funds for US$515m

Vodafone buys Italian and Spanish operations of Tele2 for £537m

Vimpel Communications agrees to buy Golden Telecom for US$4.3bn

     2008

Vodafone buys 26.4% interest in Arcor from Deutsche Bahn and Deutsche Bank for US$737m

Ziggo formed through merger of Dutch cable tv operators Casema, Multikabel and Essent Kabelcom

China Unicom agrees to acquire China Netcom Group (for fixed-line operations) for US$23.8bn

China Unicom announces plan to sell China Netcom CDMA mobile network to China Telecom for US$15.86bn

Verizon Wireless agrees to pay US$28.1bn for Alltel

Vodafone agrees to buy 70% stake in Ghana Telecom from Ghana Government for US$900m

AT&T agrees to buy Centennial Communications for US$2.4bn

AT&T buys Wayport (wireless hotspots) for US$275m





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