Didier Bellens, the CEO of Belgian incumbent Belgacom, reportedly believes a merger with Dutch counterpart KPN could make sense, although he has yet to identify many synergy advantages.
Bellens said in an interview that the crucial question is whether…
Didier Bellens, the CEO of Belgian incumbent Belgacom, reportedly believes a merger with Dutch counterpart KPN could make sense, although he has yet to identify many synergy advantages.
Bellens said in an interview that the crucial question is whether development costs of new products could be shared over two markets, according to reports citing local paper De Tijd.
He is also cited saying Belgacom continues to keep a look out for potential acquisitions, despite observing limited growth potential in the European market.
The company has looked at possibilities in North Africa, but is still questioning whether the time is now right to be active there, added De Tijd.
Back in August, Bessel Kok, a former CEO of Belgacom, reportedly called on the group to reignite merger talks with KPN.
The operator needs to accelerate its privatisation to ward itself against competitive threats, including the evolving mobile market, Kok said at the time.
Merger negotiations held between Belgacom and KPN in 2001 fell through because the Belgian group had asked for too much, such as moving the combined group’s headquarters to Brussels, he reportedly added.
In an interview with Dow Jones in April, Ad Scheepbouwer, who was then the outgoing CEO of KPN, said he expected consolidation would return to the European telco market in a few years as governments seek to cut debt and operators review their portfolio of assets.
“[Telcos] will start to rationalise. This will cause a certain consolidation, because they will have to start managing their assets lean and mean,” Scheepbouwer told Dow Jones at the time in an interview confirmed by the operator.
Scheepbouwer ended his ten-year reign at the helm of KPN on 6 April 2011.
He added that merger talks held before he took charge with Belgacom still made sense, but that it wasn’t “a topic right now”.
Belgacom was unable to comment on the reports.
