INTERVIEW: Vodafone Germany CEO Says Sales May Dip In FY10
"Nobody believes that the financial crisis won't effect the telecommunication sector," Friedrich Joussen said, adding "that the economic crisis already effects parts of our sales, though that's not dramatic given total annual sales of almost EUR10 billion." Vodafone's fiscal year ends March 31.
Joussen said he sees growth potential in data revenue and digital subscriber lines, or DSL. Outsourcing of telecommunication services also was a growth story, Joussen said. These services contribute roughly 40% of Vodafone's annual sales.
At this year's information technology fair CeBIT in Hanover, Germany, Vodafone Germany presented itself as an integrated telecommunication company for the first time.
Vodafone last year bought from Deutsche Bank AG (DB) and Deutsche Bahn AG the remaining 26.4% stake in DSL provider Arcor it didn't already own for EUR474 million.
If consolidation comes to the German DSL market, Vodafone will "play an active role, though we have no pressure to make acquisitions," Joussen said. He expects the start of the consolidation process in one to three quarters from now. It's unclear how the consolidation process would develop, Joussen said. He also said cable network providers like Kabel Deutschland and Unitymedia will stay in business.
Recent market rumors suggested that Vodafone could be interested in the acquisition of a cable network providers.
Joussen didn't deny that Vodafone had evaluated whether cable networks were compatible with DSL networks. "One option is to hire network capacity from cable network providers," Joussen said.
Vodafone Germany's chief executive said he supports the idea of collaborating with competitors like Deutsche Telekom AG (DT) in building broadband networks in Germany. However, Joussen didn't elaborated on future cooperation projects.
Joussen said Vodafone Germany had reached its sales target for its consumer-orientated BlackBerry Storm device as part of a deal with Canada's Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM). According to Joussen, Vodafone had promised to position the company's smartphones in the end-consumer sector. "It was a win-win situation," Joussen said but didn't elaborate on sales figures or details of the deal between RIM and Vodafone.
Company Web site: www.vodafone.de -By Archibald Preuschat, Dow Jones Newswires, +49 69 297 25 505, archibald.preuschat@dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=6aW4xd4LO86%2F1a0GwmErOw%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
Publié le 02 mars 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones
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