Orange Switzerland is officially for sale:

http://www.20min.ch/finance/news/story/10269027


One would hope that one of the bigger European players, such as Vodafone or T-Mobile, would buy them up. Or perhaps 3, who has a reputation for buying providers and then trying to lower the prices.

However, the most likely candidates are UPC / Cablecom or some investment conglomerate who will more than likely shred the company for some short term profit outlooks.

I would like to see Cablecom buy them, as it would make sense, they already have widespread fixed-line infrastructure that they could synergize with. I know they were looking to get into wireless a few years ago with WiMAX, but when new owners took over, they axed it. Now that Cablecom has again new owners (UPC) I guess we'll see what they think.

An existing international telco buying Orange could be a possibility, but I don't think too many are looking to expand right now. Swisscom is already a member of Vodafone, so I don't know if a country is allowed to have 2 networks belonging to Vodafone Telefonica (Spain) bought a 3G license in CH back around 2001, but then never used it and gave it back.

I'd hate to see a private equity firm buy Orange, because they would probably just drive it into the ground trying to milk it for profits, then sell it off again in a few years to someone else. But that could be a very real possibility.

Plus Cablecom recently announced that they would team up with Orange to offer mobile communication services under their own brand - so I guess there's a certain likelihood that they're at least interested. I'm just not sure UPC has the kind of cash necessary to buy a national carrier.

I personally fear that the same investment group that bought Sunrise might also buy Orange and go for another merger attempt.

Peter

Thanks for the update.... Let me check my pockets....

oh, I dont think I have enough money to buy it. Well thanks anyway

Brilliant strategy: you have a business in one of the richest countries in the world, in a market where competition is about non-existent and then of course you want to sell it.

The devil is in the details:

- the market is absolutely saturated, no growth possible.
- Orange has the smallest market share of all operators in CH
- the initial investments for mobile networks are very high, no matter if the usage of the network is high or low
= in order to make money does the operator need to gain market share

- "Buying" market share through cheaper prices is nearly impossible here as consumers are not price sensitive
- Consumers are very "quality sensitive" and willing to pay more for a better service. Swisscom has a far better service a new owner will hardly be able to beat. (So saying that there is no competition is actually entirely wrong - but the competition here does not work over price as elsewhere...)
- the company has failed to gain significant market share over the past decade or so, same is true for Sunrise.

In short: Switzerland is a difficult market that would require a high investment and offers very limited chances. I'd invest elsewhere.

This high entry barrier/unattractiveness of the market is the base for the Swisscom money printing machine...

It already was a piece of shred. I personally hope one of the big players outside of Switzerland buy it up (e.g. T-Mobile). This country needs some competition on the mobile market to lower its ridiculous prices.

I'm not so sure about that. People in Switzerland are very price-sensitive, as can be seen with the hundreds of thousands of people going across the border to Germany to buy food products because they're 30% cheaper there.

As far as I can tell, none of the existing providers have ever tried to significantly lower the tariffs. In order to actually gain some market share, a provider needs to be competitive. Right now, there's no competition. The prices are the same for all three providers, so people flock to the one provider that offers (or used to offer) the best service package. Also, Swisscom has been using its former landline monopoly (which still is a de-facto monopoly) to tie their mobile customers to the company. A new provider would have to offer packages that make landlines completely obsolete.

I personally believe that a provider like 3 could easily gain a larger market share if they applied the same all-in programs they're doing in the UK and Austria. Also, if a larger international provider actually allowed Swiss customers access to all over their networks in Europe at decent rates, they'd also be in a great position. Although the Swiss are very frequent travelers, most of them don't dare use their phones abroad because of the exorbitant pricing.

One thing is crystal-clear, though: in order to succeed, a new provider can't expect to achieve the same insane margins Sunrise, Orange and Swisscom have today.

Peter

France telecom announced today it has launched the sale process of its Swiss business as the group tries to lead its business back to sustained growth in a struggling telecom industry.

Harrd to see who would want it, apart from local players who are not allowed too?

Cablecom? Some investment group? One of the other European networks? I'm sure they can sell it. It's just a question whether the customers will profit from the sale or not.

Sent from my Sony Tablet S using Tapatalk

Apparently sold to Apax.

But subject to approval by the governmental authorities.

Swissinfo EN

Earlier news on Bloomberg