TELECOMMUNICATIONS:
Telecom and Vodafone unite to take on Australian rivals
Sydney — Australia’s TPG Telecom has agreed to a merger with Vodafone’s Australian business, easing competition in the cut-throat sector and buying scale to take on bigger rivals Telstra and Optus. It combines Australia’s third-and fourth-largest telecom firms into a larger third player holding TPG’s fibre cable network and Vodafone’s mobile system, sending shares on both sides of the deal soaring. The tie-up, to be called TPG, comes as Australia’s telecommunications sector faces upheaval from the rollout of a government-owned broadband wholesaler, which has dented internet profitability and driven intense price competition in the mobile market. "When you combine the fixed and mobile assets, the new TPG would be in a proper position to deal with Optus ... and a full-fledged telecom operation," said Bernstein analyst Samuel Chen.
It would represent a "last chance" for Vodafone, which has struggled with network reliability issues since entering Australia in 1993, to make a serio...
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