The CEO of US carrier Verizon, Lowell McAdam, has played down press speculation that the operator is looking to acquire internet company AOL.
Speaking at a conference yesterday, McAdam pointed out that he sees media companies as commercial partners…
The CEO of US carrier Verizon, Lowell McAdam, has played down press speculation that the operator is looking to acquire internet company AOL.
Speaking at a conference yesterday, McAdam pointed out that he sees media companies as commercial partners rather than targets.
“I think AOL along with lots of other media companies are potential for us to do partnering with on a commercial basis or whatever. But to say that we are having significant acquisition discussions is really not accurate,” he said in response to a report.
Yesterday, Bloomberg quoted people with knowledge of the matter as saying that Verizon was in talks with AOL over a potential tie-up or acquisition.
McAdam also outlined Verizon’s strategy for the year. The company’s main focus will be to continue to invest in the network by acquiring spectrum, deploying AWS and expanding fibre optic services across urban areas.
The company is also looking to optimise its content distribution offering by focusing on Internet of Things and video over broadband among other technologies.
When asked if Verizon was planning to expand overseas, McAdam said the company felt very strongly that the US is the best place for its investments.
Disposal of non-core assets
The CEO also confirmed Verizon’s interest in offloading its tower portfolio and other non-core assets.
In September last year, the company’s CFO, Fran Shammo, said the idea of selling and leasing back towers was inspired by AT&T’s US$4.85bn sale of some of its towers to Crown Castle in 2013.
The company would also be interested in selling certain wireline assets so that it could focus its efforts on a “more narrow geography”.
Verizon is currently striving to pay off debt resulting from its acquisition of Vodafone’s 45% stake in Verizon Wireless for US$130bn last year.
The company is also taking part in the ongoing US spectrum auction, which kicked off in November and has so far raised US$44.5bn.
