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== 1&1 5G Partners == | |||
=== 1. Vantage Towers === | |||
Vantage Towers is Europe's largest tower company. It constructs, builds and rents out mobile towers or sites. Vantage Towers was formed in 2019 by Vodafone with the aim of using it to rent out its European mobile masts. It has operations in 10 markets in Europe and has around 82,000 sites.<ref>https://www.forex.com/en/market-analysis/latest-research/vantage-towers-ipo-background/</ref> In the year ended March 2022, it generated a profit of €251 million before tax and had gross assets of €10.5 billion.<ref>https://www.vodafone.com/news/corporate-and-financial/vodafone-enters-co-control-partnership-gip-and-kkr-vantage-towers</ref> Vantage Towers was IPOed in March 2021 at €12.1 billion euros valuation and an offer price of 24 euros. Its headquarters is in Düsseldorf, Germany. Vodafone has 81.7% stake in Vantage Towers. However, there is a joint venture deal that will see transfer of 40% of its stake to a Consortium by the first half of 2023. The deal will see Vantage Towers becomes less dependant on Vodafone, hence accelerating its growth potential.<ref>https://www.vodafone.com/news/corporate-and-financial/vodafone-enters-co-control-partnership-gip-and-kkr-vantage-towers</ref> | Vantage Towers is Europe's largest tower company. It constructs, builds and rents out mobile towers or sites. Vantage Towers was formed in 2019 by Vodafone with the aim of using it to rent out its European mobile masts. It has operations in 10 markets in Europe and has around 82,000 sites.<ref>https://www.forex.com/en/market-analysis/latest-research/vantage-towers-ipo-background/</ref> In the year ended March 2022, it generated a profit of €251 million before tax and had gross assets of €10.5 billion.<ref>https://www.vodafone.com/news/corporate-and-financial/vodafone-enters-co-control-partnership-gip-and-kkr-vantage-towers</ref> Vantage Towers was IPOed in March 2021 at €12.1 billion euros valuation and an offer price of 24 euros. Its headquarters is in Düsseldorf, Germany. Vodafone has 81.7% stake in Vantage Towers. However, there is a joint venture deal that will see transfer of 40% of its stake to a Consortium by the first half of 2023. The deal will see Vantage Towers becomes less dependant on Vodafone, hence accelerating its growth potential.<ref>https://www.vodafone.com/news/corporate-and-financial/vodafone-enters-co-control-partnership-gip-and-kkr-vantage-towers</ref> | ||
==== Its Contract with 1&1 ==== | |||
On December 9 2021, 1&1 Mobilfunk GmbH, a subsidiary of 1&1 AG, signed a long-term agreement with Vantage Towers. The agreement will give 1&1 AG access to up to 5,000 antennna sites belonging to Vantage Towers. The first sites were to be availed in 2022 with the aim of giving 1&1 access to at least 3,800 sites by 2025. The contract has a term of 20 years with the first contract expiring in 2040. However, 1&1 has an option to extend it until 2060.<ref>https://www.vantagetowers.com/sites/tower-co-v2/files/media/20211209-press-release-vt-final-eng.pdf</ref> | On December 9 2021, 1&1 Mobilfunk GmbH, a subsidiary of 1&1 AG, signed a long-term agreement with Vantage Towers. The agreement will give 1&1 AG access to up to 5,000 antennna sites belonging to Vantage Towers. The first sites were to be availed in 2022 with the aim of giving 1&1 access to at least 3,800 sites by 2025. The contract has a term of 20 years with the first contract expiring in 2040. However, 1&1 has an option to extend it until 2060.<ref>https://www.vantagetowers.com/sites/tower-co-v2/files/media/20211209-press-release-vt-final-eng.pdf</ref> | ||
==== 1&1-Vantage Towers Partnership developments ==== | |||
On February 24 2022, 1&1 announced that it was going to launch a complaint against Vantage Towers at the Federal Cartel Office for failing to meet its antenna sites obligations. The complaint is also against Vodafone who happens to be the majority shareholder of Vantage Towers with a 81 percent stake. According to 1&1, Vodafone is using its influence to get preferential treatment from Vantage Towers at the expense of 1&1. As at the end of 2022, 1&1 had only five 5G antenna sites, some provided by Vantage Towers. On the other hand, Vodafone had 1,600 5G antenna sites based on Vantage Towers infrastructure. Other than failing to meet its 2022 antenna site obligations, Vantage Towers and Vodafone has also told 1&1 that they won't be able to meet their obligations in the first quarters of 2023. This means that the 1&1's planned launch of 5G in Q3 2022 will be pushed to another date. 1&1 is also complaining that Vodafone is supporting the extension of low-band frequencies given to incumbent network operators Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica for further years without an auction. According to 1&1, this is wrong considering that its network is hardly built up and Vodafone is somehow to be blamed for the low-build out of Vantage Towers antenna sites.<ref>https://www.eqs-news.com/news/corporate/11-requests-the-federal-cartel-office-bundeskartellamt-to-review-the-hindrance-of-the-construction-of-the-fourth-german-mobile-network-slight-delays-in-network-launch-possible/1760247</ref> We believe that the immediate action taken by 1&1 had been carefully planned and that 1&1 wants to capitalise on the new capital structure at Vantage Towers. The capital structure makes Vantage Towers independent from its main shareholders. It also make third party customers more important than shareholders.<ref>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-31/activist-elliott-discloses-stake-in-germany-s-vantage-towers</ref><ref>https://www.kkr.com/sites/default/files/Pressemitteilung-Konsortium-angefu%CC%88hrt-von-GIP-und-KKR-schlie%C3%9Ft-strategi-che-Partnerschaft-mit-Vodafone-zur-Beteiligung-an-Vantage-Towers-AG.pdf </ref> 1&1 probably hopes to compel Vantage Towers to give them access to the next towers to be constructed at the expense of Vodafone. Given that 1&1 stands to be the fourth MNO in Germany and its good track record of leveraging regulatory bodies, we believe that 1&1 stands a chance to win the complaint. | On February 24 2022, 1&1 announced that it was going to launch a complaint against Vantage Towers at the Federal Cartel Office for failing to meet its antenna sites obligations. The complaint is also against Vodafone who happens to be the majority shareholder of Vantage Towers with a 81 percent stake. According to 1&1, Vodafone is using its influence to get preferential treatment from Vantage Towers at the expense of 1&1. As at the end of 2022, 1&1 had only five 5G antenna sites, some provided by Vantage Towers. On the other hand, Vodafone had 1,600 5G antenna sites based on Vantage Towers infrastructure. Other than failing to meet its 2022 antenna site obligations, Vantage Towers and Vodafone has also told 1&1 that they won't be able to meet their obligations in the first quarters of 2023. This means that the 1&1's planned launch of 5G in Q3 2022 will be pushed to another date. 1&1 is also complaining that Vodafone is supporting the extension of low-band frequencies given to incumbent network operators Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica for further years without an auction. According to 1&1, this is wrong considering that its network is hardly built up and Vodafone is somehow to be blamed for the low-build out of Vantage Towers antenna sites.<ref>https://www.eqs-news.com/news/corporate/11-requests-the-federal-cartel-office-bundeskartellamt-to-review-the-hindrance-of-the-construction-of-the-fourth-german-mobile-network-slight-delays-in-network-launch-possible/1760247</ref> We believe that the immediate action taken by 1&1 had been carefully planned and that 1&1 wants to capitalise on the new capital structure at Vantage Towers. The capital structure makes Vantage Towers independent from its main shareholders. It also make third party customers more important than shareholders.<ref>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-31/activist-elliott-discloses-stake-in-germany-s-vantage-towers</ref><ref>https://www.kkr.com/sites/default/files/Pressemitteilung-Konsortium-angefu%CC%88hrt-von-GIP-und-KKR-schlie%C3%9Ft-strategi-che-Partnerschaft-mit-Vodafone-zur-Beteiligung-an-Vantage-Towers-AG.pdf </ref> 1&1 probably hopes to compel Vantage Towers to give them access to the next towers to be constructed at the expense of Vodafone. Given that 1&1 stands to be the fourth MNO in Germany and its good track record of leveraging regulatory bodies, we believe that 1&1 stands a chance to win the complaint. | ||
On September 16 2022, 1&1 announced that it was not going to meet its obligation of 1,000 5G antenna sites by 2022 due to supply bottlenecks experienced by its major partner(Vantage Towers). Vantage Towers was supposed to provide around two-thirds of the 1,000 antenna sites by the end of 2022. 1&1 added that its other partners were performing as expected and that the delay was not expected to affect the planned launch of its 5G network in 2023. Additionally, the delay was not going to affect the fulfillment of its 50% network coverage by 2025. 1&1 hoped to close the gap with its other partners. However, the 1,000 5G sites was not going to be reached untill Summer 2023.<ref>http://88.217.133.43/link.php?isin=DE0005545503&typ=corporate&von=19970101&a=10&sprache=en&id=1654697</ref> | On September 16 2022, 1&1 announced that it was not going to meet its obligation of 1,000 5G antenna sites by 2022 due to supply bottlenecks experienced by its major partner(Vantage Towers). Vantage Towers was supposed to provide around two-thirds of the 1,000 antenna sites by the end of 2022. 1&1 added that its other partners were performing as expected and that the delay was not expected to affect the planned launch of its 5G network in 2023. Additionally, the delay was not going to affect the fulfillment of its 50% network coverage by 2025. 1&1 hoped to close the gap with its other partners. However, the 1,000 5G sites was not going to be reached untill Summer 2023.<ref>http://88.217.133.43/link.php?isin=DE0005545503&typ=corporate&von=19970101&a=10&sprache=en&id=1654697</ref> | ||
=== 2. Rakuten === | |||
[[File:Rakuten Mobile.png|thumb|590x590px|https://global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/documents/results/]] | |||
Rakuten is a Japanese multinational company with operations in more than 30 countries and regions. It has over 28,000 employees and operates more than 70 businesses which span retail, financial services, mobile carrier services, fintech, security, etc. In the financial year 2022, Rakuten achieved a revenue of 1.9 trillion yen, representing 14.6% year-on-year growth. It also recorded 39 million active users or growth of 11.2% year-on-year in Japan alone. However despite its massive revenue and size, the group continues to record operating losses, driven mainly by ongoing investments in the mobile division, which also still struggles to attract clients. In the year ended 2022, the group recored operating losses of 325.6 billion yen, representing year-on-year growth of 44.71%. The good news is that the operating losses in Rakuten Mobile continues to contract sequentially after peaking in Q1 2022. In Q4 2022, Rakuten Mobile operating losses declined by 5.33% to $ -114.43 billion yen from $-120.869 billion in Q3 2022. Rakuten Mobile also keeps seeing substantial growth. In Q4 2022, its revenue grew by 75.2% year-on-year to $114,430 million. The division now has 52,003 4G base stations, with 15% of base stations left to be constructed. It aims to achieve 99%+ coverage before the end of 2023. | |||
In August 2021, Rakuten Group launched Rakuten Symphony, an organization aimed at spearheading global adoption of Open RAN architecture. In Germany, 1&1 is Rakuten Symphony's major client. At the end of financial year 2022, Rakuten Symphony had 14 clients. Five of the clients are from the Americas, two are in Asia/Pacific while seven are in Europe. Rakuten Symphony is also in the process of closing 8 major deals while 56 are in early stages of engagement. Its pipeline grew from $3.1 billion in Q3 2022 to $4.1 billion in Q4 2022 while its revenue was $476m, boosted by $231m in the fourth quarter alone. | |||