HONK KONG: ALLIANCE BETWEEN TELSTRA/PCCW/TELECOM

• published: 21 Jul 2015
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English/Nat Australian Telecom, Telstra and Pacific Century Cyberworks (P-C-C-W) the company that owns Hong Kong Telecom announced a formal alliance on Wednesday. The two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to form a strategic alliance, creating Asia's leading internet protocol. Telstra has operations throughout Asia but its mobile phone businesses are, in terms of the telecommunications industry, relatively small. The company has joint ventures across the region and has mobile telephone operations of note in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Though it has operations across the world, Telstra hopes to build on their strong focus on Asian markets. The Cyberworks deal ties all of Telstra's international operations together, which will create customer base synergies. Cyberworks has agreed to put H-K-T's Asian mobile networks and service businesses, including those in Hong Kong, into the new mobile entity and Telstra will put in all of its mobile and wireless infrastructure assets outside of Australia and New Zealand. Meanwhile, Asia's top three stock markets - Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore - finished higher on Wednesday although most smaller markets in the region fell. Hong Kong share prices got a boost from news of an alliance between local Internet company Pacific Century CyberWorks and Australian phone giant Telstra Corp. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Between us, Telstra and P-C-C-W, we believe that we have identified ways in which we can release our national competencies and energies to create a pan-Asian series of forward looking businesses as well as designing strategies that will leverage the new age skills and styles of the Pacific Century Cyberworks organisation to the advantages of our various shareholders. We will create a pan-Asian community of businesses around two substantive, credible, anchor tenants; Hong Kong Telecom in the North and Telstra in the South." SUPER CAPTION: Ziggy Switowski, Chief Executive, Telstra SOUNDBITE: (English) "Telstra will invest approximately 3 (b) billion U-S dollars into our company by way of two areas. One, is that they will be subscribing 1.5 (b) billion U-S dollars worth of P-C-C-W convertibles, which will be convertible, umm conversion price around 2365. The mobile Telstra would be injecting 1.5 (b) billion U-S dollars of cash plus regional assets which would result in a 40 percent share holding by Telstra in this regional mobile company and we'll retain 60 percent of that - purpose accelerate debt reduction - to, I think the most exciting part, combine forces to create the largest I-P backbone company in Asia." SUPER CAPTION: Richard Li, Chairman and Chief Executive, Pacific Century Group SOUNDBITE: (English) "Essentially they're going to be creating two new companies, one of which is going to take over all the international assets of Telstra and of Hong Kong Telecom, and one of which will be taking over all the international mobile assets of the two companies and they're gonna create two companies which will be independent and which will have global ambitions of their own using the resources of Telstra and Hong Kong Telecom and the content ambitions of Pacific century." SUPER CAPTION: Greg Feldberg, Head of Convergence Team, Indosuez W.I. Carr Securities You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/82bb3406f20646c5f1dc3c92ff33549b Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork