British mobile operator Vodafone is reportedly in negotiations to acquire KPN España, the Spanish unit of Dutch incumbent KPN.
Citing sources familiar with the operation, the Spanish newspaper El Economista reported that there had been contact between…
British mobile operator Vodafone is reportedly in negotiations to acquire KPN España, the Spanish unit of Dutch incumbent KPN.
Citing sources familiar with the operation, the Spanish newspaper El Economista reported that there had been contact between KPN España and Vodafone managers in recent weeks.
Both KPN España and Vodafone declined to comment.
The El Economista report cited analysts claiming that the deal price could be around €40m.
It reported that KPN would only transfer the assets in the event that the bid had an “interesting” price and that there was no urgent demand for the divestment. The newspaper said that negotiations would continue until early 2012.
KPN España runs the Simyo MVNO, which operates nationwide and has its own infrastructure, but has an agreement to access the radio spectrum of Orange España.
The KPN group defines its core markets as Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, while its operations in France, Spain and the rest of Europe are part of a “Rest of World” grouping.
In a presentation to investors in May, KPN CEO Eelco Bloc said that the company would “assess the options” for KPN France and KPN Spain.
He said that KPN wants to focus on its Ortel mobile brand, growing the Ortel business in its current footprint (Belgium, France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands) and expansion outside the footprint.
A KPN spokesman told TelecomFinance today that this was still the situation.
Vodafone has acquired spectrum in the two recent auctions held by the Spanish government. It spent a total of almost €530m acquiring spectrum blocks in the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands.
Yet in its results for the six months up to the end of September, Vodafone said that the service revenue of its Spanish unit stood at €2.6bn, down 9.6% compared to the previous year.
Vodafone said the figure had been “impacted by continued intense competition, general economic weakness and high unemployment”, which it said that driven consumers to reduce or to optimise their spending on tariffs.
