Telefonica Bids On O2

It’s not directly related to mobile content but it will affect the mobile industry in Europe, and so also it will affect the mobile content industry in Europe…Spanish telco Telefonica — the world’s fifth-biggest telecoms firm by market value — has bid 200 pence a share in cash for British/German mobile operator O2 (Europe’s sixth largest mobile phone company), a 22 percent premium to O2’s closing price on Friday. This marks a change in direction for Telefonica, which has spent the past few years building its presence in Latin America.
A counter-bid is widely expected, probably from Deutsche Telekom.
The Register has an interesting take, writing that the Spanish Government is pressuring Telefonica to buy O2 to increase Spanish commerce in the EU, and Deutsche Telekom is worried that if Telefonica did buy O2 then its mobile subsidiary, T-Mobile, would “become seen as one of the smaller European operators by investors”. As a result O2’s price is inflated…

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