Joint Venture -- Engadget Mobile

joint venture posts

Vodafone thinking long and hard about its Verizon stake

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 17th 2009 @ 1:06PM

Though Verizon Wireless and corporate half-parent Vodafone are finally getting close to achieving technological synergy now that both are moving to LTE for their next-gen networks -- and contrary to recent statements -- rhetoric is heating up that suggests the marriage may not last forever. Speaking at an investor's get-together this week, Voda CEO Vittorio Colao said that "the board continues to look at" the company's investment in the joint venture with Verizon -- which we take as executive-speak for "everything's for sale for the right price." The popular rumor is that Vodafone's bummed about Verizon's failure to pay dividends for the past four years, which effectively means that Big Red isn't actively contributing to the wireless giant's bottom line. Verizon's made no secret of the fact that it'd love to own the joint venture outright, so come on, guys... Verizon's got money, Voda's got the goods, let's sit down at that oaken conference table on the 45th floor and work this out.

NEC, Casio, and Hitachi forming mobile joint venture next year

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 14th 2009 @ 5:11AM

It took a little longer than anyone had thought, but that rumored three-way deal involving NEC, Casio, and Hitachi in Japan to create a superpower mobile joint venture is now official. Two of the three -- Casio and Hitachi -- have already had their mobile units united in holy matrimony since 2004, so NEC is the new kid on the block joining in the fun to help spread out R&D costs a bit further, achieve even more spectacular scales of economy on component orders, and pull sophomoric pranks on Fujitsu to score popularity points with the cool companies. The deal's expected to close in April of next year, at which point the combined venture will be the second-largest in Japan behind Sharp and the idea of NEC bringing devices to the States won't seem that far-fetched -- Casio Hitachi already does through Verizon, after all.

T-Mobile UK and Orange to merge, still clash

by Thomas Ricker posted Sep 8th 2009 @ 2:36AM

Step aside O2 and Vodafone, there's a new sheriff in town. At least there will be if the announced 50:50 merger between T-Mobile UK and Orange can be signed into existence by November as planned. The new venture would give France Telecom and Deutsch Telekom units a 37% share of the UK mobile marketplace leaving O2 with 27% and the once mighty Vodafone with 25%. Let's hope that the corporate cultures mix better than orange and magenta.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

NEC rumored to want in on Casio Hitachi joint venture

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 28th 2009 @ 7:49AM

The big rumor out of Japan today has NEC locked in heated negotiations with existing joint venture Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications to add itself into the mix -- a JV that's currently a 51 / 49 percent ownership split between Casio and Hitachi, respectively -- with NEC wanting to pick up a total of 50 percent of the combined operation. Japan's one of the more competitive, low-margin mobile markets in the world (just ask Mitsubishi) so it makes sense that a lot of these guys would be looking to consolidate and work on their sourcing scales of economy; if it happens, the rumor has the deal targeted for an April 2010 close that would make the combined operation the second-largest in the market at 20 percent share behind Sharp at 23 percent. Does this mean they'll be more friendly toward the crazy idea of wide-scale North American launches, by chance? Please?

[Via MobileCrunch]

Telenor and Tele2 agree to split LTE buildout costs in Sweden

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 17th 2009 @ 7:46AM

Network buildouts our expensive, and virtually every carrier in the world is staring down the barrel of a potentially multibillion-dollar LTE or WiMAX upgrade over the coming years. How do you soften the blow? One option is to make a strange bedfellow or two, and that's exactly what Telenor and Tele2 have done in Sweden. The rival carriers have agreed to form a joint venture to share the cost of crafting a new LTE network from the ground up and sharing spectrum in the 900 and 2600MHz bands, kicking off this year with the goal of offering service in 2010. From the customer's perspective, it seems like this could ultimately limit competition and healthy price pressure in the marketplace -- but if the alternative is waiting a few more years for these pricey networks to get off the ground, we suppose we'll take it.

[Via GigaOM]

Ericsson reaffirms commitment to Sony Ericsson joint venture

by Darren Murph posted Mar 23rd 2009 @ 2:09PM

Given the current state of Sony Ericsson, we completely understand the re-heating of rumors regarding a nasty breakup. That said, a new report from Dow Jones confirms that Ericsson (at least) has "has no plans to abandon its joint venture Sony Ericsson," with spokesperson Minako Nakatsuma Olofzon stating that "[Ericsson is] committed to the joint venture; it hasn't changed its view on that." Of course, the report makes no mention of Sony's take on all of this, but at least one half of the equation is still in it for the long haul. Publicly, anyway.

[Via mocoNews]

Hutchison and Vodafone to merge in Australia, become VHA

by Darren Murph posted Feb 9th 2009 @ 8:18AM

So, how does one successfully snatch away market share from Telstra and Optus? If you're Hutchison or Vodafone, you merge! Announced today, two of Australia's smaller operators have decided that an equal joint venture would be the best approach to moving on up, and while they aren't suggesting that the current economic conditions influenced the decision, many analysts are suggesting that the tie-up could help the newly formed VHA fend off adverse effects from slowed spending on mobile communications. Once together, the combined group will have a local market share of around 26 percent, and Hutchison Australia's current chief executive, Nigel Dews, has been chosen to lead the new venture. Under the agreement, VHA will market its products and services under the Vodafone brand, though it will retain exclusive rights to Hutchison's "3" brand in The Land Down Under.

[Via MobileBurn]

Vodafone's Vittorio Colao dreams up "unbeatable" alliance around LTE

by Darren Murph posted Jan 29th 2009 @ 12:52PM

And here we go again -- new CEO, same message. Just under a year after ex-chief Arun Sarin urged the industry to rally around LTE, the new bigwig (that's Mr. Vittorio Colao to you) is coming forward with even zanier ideas. In a recent interview with Financial Times, Colao asserted that collaboration between China Mobile, Vodafone and Verizon Wireless around LTE could create an "unbeatable" alliance. More specifically, he noted that the trio could "work more closely... in the management of customers, procurement and service creation," which in some courtrooms may be misconstrued as collusion. All kidding aside (maybe), this master plan makes more sense when you realize that Vodafone owns a 3.2 percent stake in China Mobile and is already involved in VZW via a joint venture. Still, just because Microsoft and Apple could join forces to create an unbeatable operating system factory doesn't mean that laws would allow it.

[Via mocoNews]

Sony, NXP get official with Moversa joint venture

by Darren Murph posted Nov 14th 2007 @ 3:49PM

Chances are, you had forgotten all about Sony and NXP's little initiative to cooperate on a NFC (near-field communications) standard, but the two seem to have finally worked out all the kinks and are ready to move forward. The joint venture, dubbed Moversa, will seek to "drive global adoption of contactless smart card applications in mobile phones," and it's already planning to develop, produce and market a Universal Secure Access Module (U-SAM) that "incorporates both MIFARE and FeliCa operating systems and applications." Essentially, the duo is hoping to accelerate the adoption of integrated contactless support, which would enable users to make payments (among other things) easily via their handset. If you're curious about availability, we're hearing that samples should be shipped out in mid-2008, but commercial deployments aren't scheduled to happen until the end of next year.

[Via Yahoo / Reuters]

SK Telecom handing over $270 million (more) to Helio

by Darren Murph posted Sep 21st 2007 @ 3:31PM

As if receiving $200 million from SK Telecom and EarthLink back in July wasn't enough, Helio is now set to accept (up to) a $270 million check from SK Telecom. According to EarthLink, SK Telecom will "invest up to $270 million in Helio," and as expected, EarthLink was "very pleased" with the decision -- you know, considering that it won't be forced to cough up any more dough at the moment while still maintaining "substantial ownership interest in Helio's future." Most interesting, however, is the tidbit that mentions the parents' plans, as EarthLink and SK Telecom are reportedly "in discussions to amend their existing agreements to reflect the additional investment by SK Telecom and their future governance of Helio." Gotta pay to play, we suppose.

Sprint bows out of wireless spectrum joint venture

by Darren Murph posted Aug 2nd 2007 @ 1:08AM

Sprint sure has been backing out of and sashaying into quite a few deals of late, and the schizophrenic trend is continuing as it opts out of SpectrumCo, one of two joint ventures with cable operators Comcast, Time Warner Cable (parent company of AOL, which owns Engadget), Cox Communications, and Brighthouse (Advance/Newhouse). Reportedly, the firm is still remaining a part of the Sprint/Cable venture (now known as Pivot) as it focuses on "integrating wireline and wireless services offered by the cable partners with itself." We're led to believe that Sprint simply had different plans for investing its capital, but it apparently sees value in hanging in there with the whole Pivot endeavor. Interestingly, when TWC's CEO was questioned over SpectrumCo's possible involvement in the forthcoming wireless auction, he casually proclaimed that "it would be inappropriate for him to make any comment on it one way or the other," but if you'll recall, it most certainly picked up a few licenses the last go 'round.

SK Telecom, EarthLink dump $200 million on Helio

by Darren Murph posted Jul 4th 2007 @ 7:52PM

As Amp'd scrambles for life and limb and Palm sees its once tight grip on the market slipping away, Helio is being rewarded with a pair of checks worth $100 million apiece. Reportedly, SK Telecom and EarthLink are set to inject a substantial amount of cash into the MVNO, as it has supposedly burned through the initial $440 million initially put forth. Recent financial results from Helio have been less than encouraging, but obviously someone up the ladder thinks it's wise to forge ahead through treacherous waters. Of course, just about anything can survive with enough funding to back it, but unless things get turned around real quick like, Helio isn't likely breathe new life into the oft neglected MVNO universe.

Sprint explores options for WiMAX, ponders Clearwire deal

by Darren Murph posted Jun 15th 2007 @ 10:37AM

Looks like Sprint's feverish approach to WiMAX just swallowed a chill pill, as the firm is reportedly "exploring new options for financing its ambitious plan." In a presumed effort to "soothe investor concerns about the cost of the WiMAX plan," the company is actually investigating a partnership or joint venture with Clearwire in order to simultaneously remove a potential competitor and gain access to the critical Clearwire markets in the southeastern US. Of course, Clearwire isn't one to shy away from high stakes partnerships, and the FCC nod for a WiMAX-class laptop card that it garnered just last month could fit in quite well here. Still, Clearwire is refusing to comment just yet on whether this possibility is even feasible, but the mere mention of a spinoff likely means that Sprint isn't feeling all too peachy about future WiMAX profitability. [Warning: Read link requires subscription]

[Via InformationWeek]

Nokia cancels Sanyo venture, ending CDMA development?

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 22nd 2006 @ 10:51PM

Given Nokia's icy relationship with Qualcomm and "an already financially prohibitive CDMA ecosystem in general," it looks like the world's largest mobile manufacturer may be on the verge of turning its back on CDMA altogether. It's anybody's guess what exactly happened behind the closed doors of Sanyokia's meetings that caused things to go south, but in addition to pulling out of their planned joint venture to develop CDMA EV-DO handsets, Nokia is looking to deep-six its internal CDMA R&D by April of next year. That said, they also threw out that they plan to "selectively participate in key CDMA markets, with special focus on North America" going forward, which would jive well with their recently-announced Pantech deal -- likely leaving our Finnish friends with a stable of rebranded Korean handsets on Sprint and Verizon.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]