Communication
SoftBank Calls Off Asset Reshuffle
TOKYO— SoftBank Corp. called off plans to reshuffle its Japanese assets, canceling a move that would have resulted in an extra ¥450 billion ($4.4 billion) in the Internet and telecom group’s war chest for acquisitions.
Just two months ago, the Internet and telecommunications company had said it would sell wholly owned mobile-phone provider eAccess Ltd. to Yahoo Japan Corp. 4689.TO -2.84% , in which SoftBank 9984.TO -1.87% owns a 43% stake. Yahoo Japan, 4689.TO -2.84% the nation’s biggest search portal, had said it wanted control of its own mobile-phone carrier to build synergies with its e-commerce businesses.
But Yahoo Japan representatives said the company changed its mind after studying the challenges in operating its own network and setting pricing plans. On Monday, all the parties said the deal was scrapped.
SoftBank would have received ¥324 billion for the mobile-phone company plus an estimated ¥130 billion to pay off eAccess’s debt. Still, even without that cash, SoftBank has plenty of assets and access to funding for deals.
Earlier this month, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Inc. filed its plans to go public, valuing itself at more than $100 billion. SoftBank has a 34.4% stake in Alibaba, giving it access to a wealth of collateral should it ever need to borrow. In addition, SoftBank began issuing bonds on Monday to Japanese retail investors to raise ¥300 billion.
Some investors said they were troubled by corporate-governance issues in the now-abandoned deal. Minority shareholders of Yahoo Japan said they were worried SoftBank was using Yahoo Japan—a listed entity—to fund acquisitions that didn’t benefit the search portal.
The concerns, along with a warning that Yahoo Japan expected first-half operating profit to fall 5%, have sent Yahoo Japan’s share price down 25% since it announced the eAccess deal in March.
A Yahoo Japan spokeswoman said the decision to scrap the deal had nothing to do with the share price decline or shareholder pressure. Representatives of SoftBank and Yahoo Japan said the original deal had nothing to do with any possible need for SoftBank to stockpile cash for acquisitions.
SoftBank last year paid $22 billion to take control of U.S. carrier Sprint Corp. and people familiar with the matter have said it is also eyeing a bid by Sprint for smaller U.S. carrier T-Mobile US Inc. TMUS +1.60%
SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son envisions a future in which the SoftBank group becomes a technology ecosystem to rival Silicon Valley, with group companies enhancing one another’s operations. Already, the SoftBank group spans more than 1,300 companies as well as investments in Internet startups around the globe.
SoftBank was an early investor in Yahoo Inc. of the U.S. and retains a small stake in the U.S. company, which in turn owns 35.5% of Yahoo Japan.
In Japan, SoftBank operates one of the big three mobile-phone carriers, while also owning eAccess, a smaller player in the No. 4 spot that specializes in data plans. Selling eAccess to Yahoo Japan might have simplified SoftBank’s offerings, but a former eAccess executive said it added complications for Yahoo Japan.
The search portal underestimated the difficulty of operating telecom networks and didn’t fully grasp that eAccess’s base stations were already linked to SoftBank’s, meaning any buyer of eAccess would have little control in practice, the former executive said.
On June 1, eAccess is set to merge with another SoftBank telecom subsidiary, Willcom Inc., and the companies said that plan would go ahead. Yahoo Japan said it would collaborate with the merged company to offer Yahoo-branded mobile services.
Just two months ago, Yahoo Japan had said a partnership with eAccess wouldn’t be enough. The search portal needed to be a carrier in its own right to offer users competitive price plans for mobile devices, including wearables, said its president, Manabu Miyasaka, at the time.
– WALLSTREET JOURNAL
In a significant market projection, Mordor Intelligence predicts that the Nigerian telecom sector is set to surge to a value of $11.43 billion by 2029.
The report anticipates a steady growth trajectory with a cumulative average growth rate (CAGR) of 4.70% between 2024 and 2029, based on the current market value of $9.09 billion.
The transformation of Nigeria’s telecom landscape, fueled by government initiatives to boost internet infrastructure and broadband connectivity, coupled with rising data consumption, 5G deployments, and innovative strategies from major telecom players, is expected to drive this substantial market expansion.
The report underscores additional factors propelling the growth of Nigeria’s telecom sector, emphasizing the surge in smartphone adoption.
the report said “Increased smartphone adoption in Nigeria has fueled the development of a dynamic digital services sector. Currently, millions of Nigerians use mobile apps, including social networking sites, e-commerce, and financial services.
“These apps could leverage smartphones’ capabilities to offer speed, convenience, and efficiency, encouraging more people to invest in smartphones.
“In addition to these expansions and collaborations, the growing adoption of digital technologies and government support in aiding the same alongside the 5G technology implementation across the country is analyzed to boost the demand for telecom towers significantly.”
“In addition to these expansions and collaborations, the growing adoption of digital technologies and government support in aiding the same alongside the 5G technology implementation across the country is analyzed to boost the demand for telecom towers significantly.”
Mordor Intelligence highlights that the flourishing e-commerce and digital service platforms in Nigeria are significant drivers behind the escalating demand for dependable telecom services in the country.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has granted MTN’s request to partially disconnect Globacom (Glo) from its network owing to unsettled interconnect charges.
Reuben Muoka, the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, disclosed this in a document named ‘Pre-Disconnection Notice’ on Monday.
The move follows Glo’s persistent failure to clear its outstanding debts despite multiple attempts to resolve the issue.
Under this partial disconnection, Globacom subscribers will solely receive calls from MTN users, while retaining access to other network services like outgoing calls to other networks and data services.
However, they won’t be able to initiate calls to MTN users during this period.
The statement read, “All subscribers are, therefore requested to take notice that the Commission has approved the Partial Disconnection of Globacom to MTN in accordance with Section 100 of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003 and Paragraph 9 of the Guidelines on Procedure for Granting Approval to Disconnect Telecommunications Operators, 2012.
“At the expiration of 10 days from January 8, 2024, subscribers of Globacom will no longer be able to make calls to MTN but will be able to receive calls.
“The Partial Disconnection, however, will allow in-bound calls to the Globacom network,” it added
Nigerian telecommunication users, along with others within the country, expended a total of N3.33 trillion on various telecom services such as calls, data, SMS, and more throughout 2022, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
This information comes from the recently published ‘2022 Subscriber/Network Data Annual Report’ by the NCC, which also revealed that telecom companies generated N3.33 trillion in overall revenue for that year.
The report further highlights a noteworthy growth of active voice subscriptions, rising from 195,463,898 subscriptions in 2021 to 222,571,568 by December 2022, marking a 13.86% year-on-year increase.
Commenting on the increase, it said, “The increase in the Operators’ subscriber base was attributed to a number of reasons which includes subscriber loyalty, promos, seasonal effects, aggressive consumer acquisition drive, and competitive product offerings across all the networks.”
It noted that the growth in active subscriptions impacted positively on other derived telecom indicators such as teledensity, Internet penetration as well as broadband penetration.
Data usage also continued its surge in 2022. It increased by 46.77 per cent to 518,381.78TB as of the end of the year.
The NCC stated, “There was an increase in the volume of data consumed at the year-end December 2022 when compared with the year-end December 2021.
“The total volume of data consumed by subscribers increased to 518,381.78TB as of December 2022 from 353,118.89TB as of December 2021. This represents an increase of 46.77 per cent in data consumption within the period.”
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