Vodafone buys Telstra New Zealand
Australia’s Telstra will sell its struggling New Zealand operations to British mobile operator Vodafone in a NZ$840m (£432.59m) deal, threatening Telecom New Zealand’s dominance and potentially making it a future takeover target.
Under the sale, Vodafone New Zealand said it will acquire TelstraClear’s fixed-line and Internet operations, which hold only 16 per cent of New Zealand’s broadband market but will now have the muscle to compete head-on with much larger Telecom.
The deal also cuts Telstra free from the revenue-poor asset and opens the door to a possible takeover of Telecom TEL.NZ down the line by its Australian counterpart, as the New Zealand company faces the daunting task of expanding in an already mature market.