debitel AG 27/10/2003 1

Transcription

1 debitel AG 27/10/ Telecommunications and Information Highways debitel AG 1. SYNOPSIS debitel is the largest network-independent telecommunications company in Europe and the third largest mobile telephony provider in Germany. Its product range includes fixed-line and Internet services making debitel a full-service provider. Its activities span Europe and it has operations in Denmark, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia. debitel has over 7000 points of sale in Europe, and is pursuing the Internet, e-commerce and the new mobile telephony standard, UMTS, as opportunities for growth. 2. COMPANY INFORMATION Exhibit 1 debitel at a glance Shareholders Public Swisscom 94% CEO Peter Wagner Year established 1991 Revenue billion International activities France, Netherlands, Denmark, Slovenia. Headquarters Stuttgart Customers Dec million (7.7 million in Germany) Employees Dec ,300 (+6%) debitel AG was established in 1991 and is based in Stuttgart. It has grown to be one of Europe s largest telecommunications carriers and is a market leader in mobile, fixed-line and Internet convergence products. Its activities span Europe and it has operations in Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Slovenia. debitel is represented in over 7000 points of sale in Europe. debitel AG has been quoted on the stock exchange since the end of March In January 2001, Swisscom exercised its option with Daimler Chrysler Services to buy the latter s 10% holding in debitel for SFr470 million. Then in July 2001, Swisscom acquired Metro Vermogensverwaltung s 10% holding in debitel for SFr460 million. The acquisitions brings Swisscom s stake in debitel to 94%. debitel is the biggest network-independent telephone company in Europe. Most of its revenue is generated by its mobile operations in Germany where it is the third largest mobile operator behind Deutche Telekom s T-Mobile (D1) and Vodafone s Mannesmann Mobilfunk (D2). The company has a dense and highly differentiated distribution network. It markets its products mainly through its sales partners Metro-Group, EP:ElectronicPartner, Photo Phorst, Mercedes-Benz, Bosch specialist retailers, Selectric and Chris Keim Com, Ruefach and BMW. With the increasing convergence of mobile telephony and the Internet, the company is becoming more involved in the areas of the mobile Internet and mobile e-commerce (m-commerce). In September 2000, debitel acquired a 4.8% equity holding in paybox.net, Deutche Bank s secure mobile payment system, and in October, acquired a strategic 15% equity holding in Jamba!, a popular German Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) Internet portal. At Germany s Third generation mobile system (3G) licence auction in August 2000, debitel chose to retain its network-independent status when it withdrew from bidding. Instead, in first half 2001, it signed agreements with UMTS licence holders T-Mobil D1, Mannesmann Mobilfunk D2 and Dutch KPN Telecom s E-plus Mobilfunk to gain access to their 3G networks when they become operational in 2003.

2 debitel AG 27/10/ debitel also offers telecommunications services through subsidiaries in Holland, France, Denmark and Slovenia. See Chapter 3 Subsidiaries. In May 2001, the company sold its 48% stake in debitel Belgium to Mobistar. For information on these other key companies, see separate reports: Deutsche Telekom AG; Mannesmann AG (Defunct); Vodafone AirTouch plc; Swisscom AG. For more information about the German markets, see separate report: Germany Key Statistics and Telecommunications Market Overview. 2.1 YEAR 2002 RESULTS Revenue increased 12%, with increases in all areas. The international revenue increased 20%, mainly due to acquisitions in Netherlands and France. The apparent fall in Mobile Service revenue was due to the transfer of the SMS operations out of this segment into Mobile Telephony. The 12% increase in sales was accompanied by a 15% increase in direct costs, incurred to win new subscribers and hold the old ones against strong opposition, and losses incurred by the hardware business in France. With cost reductions in selling expenses, the EBITDA was still down 7% to 112 million. Net profit fell 17% to 40, with a positive cash flow of 58 million ( 114 million in 2001). Table 1 debitel revenue Year ends Dec. Revenue ( billion) Table 2 Revenue by region 2002 Region Proportion Annual change Germany 70% +8% Mobile telephony 69% +9% Mobile services 1% -40% International 30% +20% 2.2 COMPANY HISTORY 1991 TO Company founded Offered mobile communications services in Germany Founded first foreign subsidiary, debitel France. 1994

3 debitel AG 27/10/ Acquired Europe s No 2 network-independent company, Bosch Telecom Services Founded debitel Netherlands Founded debitel Belgium Founded debitel Denmark Commenced marketing fixed-line services in Germany; Acquired 49% stake in Freecom; Acquired Dutch mobile company Cellway; Founded debitel Slovenia; Enters Internet business through Primus-Online and Metronet Internet services marketed under debitel brand; IPO on Frankfurt Stock Exchange; Swisscom acquired 74% of debitel; dns Internet business commenced operations Contracted with Tesion to supply fixed-line services; Acquired 4.8% of mobile secure payment company paybox.net; At debitel s request, Germany s telecom regulator began proceedings to open up Deutche Telekom s local phone network; Acquired 15% equity participation in popular German Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) portal Jamba! 2001 Swisscom bought Daimler Chrysler s 10% holding in debitel; Swisscom acquired Metro Vermogensverwaltung s 10% holding in debitel; Sold its 48% stake in debitel Belgium subsidiary to Mobistar, Belgium; Increased equity holding in debitel Nederland to 100% by acquiring SAIT Radio Holland s 40% share; debitel Nederland acquired the Dutch Talkline debitel France acquired the specialist retail chain Videlec with 80 outlets in France; debitel Denmark acquired the Internet platform from Tiscali. 3. SUBSIDIARIES 3.1 ORGANISATION DEC 2002 debitel AG: debitel Vertriebs 100%; PP-Mietund Verwaltungsgesellschaft 100%; Midray 100%; Debitel France 100%; Télécom Option 50%; debitel Dangaard France 65%; Videlec 95.5% Videlec Distribution 99.7% Promoboc 100% Fabogest 100% Debitel Danmark 78.3%; Dansk GSM Services 100%; DLG debitel 50%; debitel Telekomunikacije Ljubljana - 52%; debitel Nederland 100%;

4 debitel AG 27/10/ Debitel Shop 100%; Dangaard Telecom Holding %; Debitel Multimedia 50%; debitel Austria Kommunikationstechnik 100%; debitel España 100%; Jamba! 15%; paybox.net 4.8%. Table 3 Mobile subscribers by country 2002 Country (millions) Germany 7.73 Netherlands 1.38 France 0.50 Denmark 0.37 Slovenia DEBITEL NEDERLAND debitel Nederland was founded in 1995 with a 60% equity investment by debitel. In 1999, the company doubled its market share to about 19% by acquiring rival Cellway (Martin Dawes Telecommunications Netherlands) making it the largest independent telecoms company in the country. In July 2001, debitel became the sole owner by acquiring SAIT Radio Holland s 40% share. See separate reports: the Netherlands for further information about the country s telecommunications market. 3.3 DEBITEL FRANCE Founded in 1993, debitel France, a wholly-owned subsidiary, was the first operation outside Germany. In 1999, the company reached cooperation agreements with France Télécom Mobiles and SFR in retail distribution and customer management. In 2001, debitel France acquired a 50% stake in the TélécomOption retail chain, with more than 20 outlets, and continued to open its own shops within the framework of the Village Télécom partnership. In May 2001, debitel France and Dangaard Telecom Holding signed a joint-venture agreement to create a new 65%:35% company to distribute and service handsets and accessories. In 2002, debitel France acquired the specialist retail chain Videlec with 80 outlets in France. More information about the French telecommunications market is available, see separate reports: France Key Statistics and Telecommunications Market Overview; France. 3.4 DEBITEL DANMARK debitel Danmark, in which debitel holds a 78% stake, started operations in August 1997 as the first independent telephone company in Denmark. Despite a high penetration rate, debitel Danmark succeeded in achieving a market share of about 6% by end See separate reports: Denmark for information about the Danish telecommunications market.

5 debitel AG 27/10/ DEBITEL TELEKOMUNIKACIJE LJUBLJANA The 52% owned company, debitel Telekomunikacije Ljubljana, commenced Slovenian operations in 1998, and was the first independent service provider in South-East Europe. It achieved 3% market share in its first two months of operation, with 120 points of sale. At end-2000, market share rose to around 5% and the company became the second largest mobile operator in Slovenia. For more information on the telecommunications market in Slovenia, see separate report: Slovenia. 3.6 DEBITEL NETWORK SERVICES debitel Network Services (dns) provides Internet access for the debitel group. The service is free debitel customers. dns specialises on the Business-to-Business (B2B) business-customer segment providing complete mobile system platforms. It has industrial and commercial clients in the finance, automotive, distribution and service sectors. 4. OPERATIONS 4.1 FIXED-LINE TELEPHONY debitel buys access from Deutche Telekom s phone network and re-sells call minutes at its own tariffs. Deutche Telekom (DT) has 98% control of the last mile of network access for local calls and rival telecom operators complain that it has restricted competition in this area. In November 2000, the German telecoms regulator, German Regulative Authority for Telecommunication and Post (RegTP), began proceedings against DT and ruled that DT must provide local-loop services for resellers. By June 2001, DT still had not implemented the ruling. As a result, debitel has positioned its fixed-line service in Germany as a supplementary service for its mobile-telephony customers. 4.2 MOBILE TELEPHONY The majority of debitel s revenues come from its German mobile market, largely due to its effective marketing through over 5,200 points of sale and around 7,000 sales partners which include Metro- Group, EP:ElectronicPartner, Photo Phorst, Mercedes-Benz, Bosch specialist retailers, Selectric and Chris Keim Com, Ruefach and BMW SMS debitel s MessageLine service offers mobile customers an inexpensive Short Message Service (SMS) service spanning all networks via its own short-message centre. The service also offers a short fax service, an gateway and information WAP debitel reported that the use of its WAP services has been continuously increasing since the CeBIT 2001 trade fair, the most popular applications being information on share prices, news, weather and traffic reports. To build the customer base, in October 2000, debitel acquired a strategic 15% equity holding in Jamba!, a popular German WAP portal with a mixture of information and entertainment.

6 debitel AG 27/10/ Internet access Internet access is provided free to debitel customers through its subsidiary debitel Network Services (dns) M-commerce In September 2000, debitel moved into the mobile commerce area with a strategic 4.8% investment in paybox.net, a Deutche Bank secure payment system UMTS debitel entered the bidding for Germany s Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) licence auctions in August However, it later withdrew following financial concerns. debitel decided instead to become a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) offering services through the networks of UMTS licensed operators. In the first half of 2001, debitel secured its future position in the UMTS market with agreements and letters of intent with D2 Vodafone Mannesmann Mobilfunk, D1 Deutche Telecom T-Mobil and Dutch KPN Telecom s E-Plus, the three largest network operators in Germany. In preparation for UMTS network launches in around 2003, debitel intends to develop new UMTS applications and services to position itself as an enhanced service provider. See separate report: Germany Wireless Communications. 4.3 CUSTOMER CARE debitel places great importance on customer care. Call centres are well staffed throughout Germany, particularly in Stuttgart, Ettlingen and Saarbrucken. A fourth major call centre was launched in Kaiserslautern in late The company offers customers a Confidence Guarantee, replacing handsets every two years, and discounted Family Tariffs. 5. CONTACT DETAILS debitel AG Schelmenwasenstr Stuttgart Tel: GERMANY Website: 6. RELATED REPORTS For relevant information on Germany s telecommunications sector, see reports listed on Germany. For information on wireless communications, see Germany Wireless Communications. For information relating to: worldwide activities in the telecommunications industry, see Global Overviews. the global telecommunications industry, see Technologies, Terminology and Glossary. telecommunication companies in Europe, see Companies in Europe.

7 debitel AG 27/10/ activities in Europe, see Europe. Copyright Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd, All rights reserved. This material is subject to the laws of copyright and is restricted to registered licence-holders who have entered into a Corporate, a Multi-User or a Single-User licence agreement with BuddeComm. It is an offence, punishable by AU$250,000, for the licence-holder to make the material available to any unauthorised person, either via messaging or by placing it on a network. We offer very attractive multi-user and Intranet services. To arrange for additional user licences please contact us George Downes Drive, BUCKETTY NSW 2250 AUSTRALIA Telephone: Fax: pbc@budde.com.au Web: