 |
 |
||
|
|
||
Altice USA stays on the hunt for Cogeco Altice USA isn't going to let a straight-up rejection halt its pursuit of a deal to acquire Cogeco and divvy up the spoils with Canadian operator Rogers Communications. "This is a marathon, not a sprint. We're committed to trying to come to an end game," Dexter Goei, Altice USA's CEO, said Wednesday (September 9) at the Bank of America Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference. "From our standpoint, that's very simple, which is we'd like to ... acquire [Cogeco's] US assets."
Dexter Goei, Altice USA's CEO, says Atlantic Broadband's systems along the US east coast presents 'somewhat of a perfect match' from a geographic standpoint.
Altice USA's offer, announced on September 2, is to acquire Cogeco at a premium, retain Cogeco's US assets (Atlantic Broadband) and then sell Cogeco to Rogers Communications, a Toronto-based operator that also happens to be Cogeco's largest long-term shareholder. Goei said Altice USA is "committed ... to continuing this process and this project and we'll see where it ends up." Altice USA has its work cut out. The Cogeco boards as well as a family-owned business with critical stakes and voting rights in Cogeco, have already spurned the deal. Gestion Audem Inc., a company controlled by members of the Audet family that holds key stakes and 69% voting rights in Cogeco, has also rejected the idea of negotiating for a sweeter deal. "Our shares are not for sale," Louis Audet, who represents the Audet family on behalf of Gestion Audem, said Monday. "And let me be clear, our refusal is not a negotiating position, it is definitive." Goei said the opportunity to make the offer for Cogeco followed an introduction to Rogers, which has about 6% voting rights in Cogeco. Altice USA was merely striking while the iron was hot. "It's not a question in any shape or form of us needing to do anything in particular, it's just that you need to be reactive in M&A situations. And this was a perfect opportunity for us to be reactive," Goei said, noting that Altice USA is coming off its two best quarters of operational performance. "This is not something that comes along every day, and that's not something you can plan for, either." For more about Altice USA's unsolicited bid for Cogeco and its strategic reasoning for wanting to add Atlantic Broadband to assets that already include its "Optimum" footprint in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut as well as its more rural Suddenlink assets, please see this story at Light Reading: Altice USA undaunted after Cogeco spurns offer.)
Related posts:
— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading, special to Broadband World News |
Charter has sparked RDOF work in all 24 states where it won bids. The cable op booked about $19 million in RDOF revenues in Q1, and expects to have about $9 million per month come in over the next ten years.
Launch of 2-Gig and 5-Gig FTTP tiers in 70-plus markets puts more pressure on cable ops to enhance their existing DOCSIS 3.1 network or accelerate their upgrade activity centered on the new DOCSIS 4.0 specs.
Ziply Fiber, an operator that tangles with Comcast and Charter, has launched two multi-gigabit tiers in 60 urban areas, aiming for all markets by Q2 2022.
Elon Musk's nascent broadband will need to radically accelerate the rate of satellite launches – and navigate tricky supply chain logistics – if it's going to come close to fulfilling its global ambition.
MoffettNathanson questions whether mobile operators will have the network capacity and the right business metrics to back their aggressive stance and forecasts for fixed wireless home broadband.
 WebinarsARCHIVED
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
1:00 p.m. New York / 6:00 p.m. London When your broadband business adds new services and connected devices, do they also add complexity, slowing customer support teams as they navigate multiple data sources to uncover connectivity issues? We’ve worked with hundreds of support teams to help them implement a subscriber experience management platform that gives greater visibility into subscriber issues. They can proactively troubleshoot amid complexity—improving the subscriber experience and raising customer satisfaction ratings like Net Promoter Scores. Join this webinar with experts from Calix and global research leader Omdia who will share exclusive research about how you can:
|
|
|
||
