SingTel acquires Cable & Wireless Optus

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE, MARCH 26. In a huge deal, Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) has reached an agreement to pay around $8.6 billion to take over Australia's second largest telecom company, Cable and Wireless Optus.

SingTel, which is linked to the Singapore Government, has been looking for a major overseas acquisition for quite some time now. Its bid to acquire Optus, which provides mobile telephony, pay television, internet access and other data services, was facilitated by the decision of Vodafone to pull out of the acquisition process.

In a statement on the acquisition, Mr. Lee Hsien Yang, President and CEO of SingTel, said, ``Australia is one of the largest telecommunications markets in the Asia-Pacific region and one of the four telecommunications hubs in the region, along with Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan.

Mr. Lee, whose father is Singapore's Senior Minister, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, and brother is the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Hsien Loong, said: ''We see terrific growth opportunities for Optus within Australia and for the enlarged SingTel group across the Asia-Pacific region.''

He claimed that the combined SingTel and Optus would be ranked as ''Asia-Pacific's number one multi-market mobile operator with a strong presence in five countries''.

SingTel, which has a stake in Bharti Telecom, it may be recalled, had tried unsuccessfully in the last one year to acquire the Hong Kong arm of Cable & Wireless and Time Engineering, a Malaysian telecom company.

By taking over Optus, SingTel will control Optus, one of the ten biggest Australian companies. At present, Optus has one-third of the mobile phones' market, three lakh Internet subscribers and 4.50 lakh others who use different data services.

In a statement in Sydney, Mr. Chris Anderson, CEO of Optus, claimed that the deal with SingTel was `good' for Australia and `great' for Optus.

''With this proposed transaction, Optus will grow from being a successful, highly competitive Australian entity to becoming part of a formidable regional player of stature, significance and strength,'' Mr. Anderson said.

''SingTel's powerful position in the region will assist growth in our major lines of business and enhance Optus' status as the growing, challenging competitor in Australia,'' he added.

SingTel, which has announced plans to list on the Australian Stock Exchange, also stated that the deal to take over Optus was subject to shareholder and regulatory clearances. Projecting itself as a `true leader' in Asia-Pacific telecommunications, SingTel has stakes in telecom companies in Thailand, Philippines, India (Bharti Telecom), Belgium and Taiwan.

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Section  : Business
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