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Swisscom wants to buy Vodafone Italia for eight billion euros and merge it with its subsidiary Fastweb, which has been part of the Swiss telecom group since 2007.
The public announcement of the Italian plans this week did not sit well with Swisscom leadership around CEO Christoph Aeschlimann, 47. Media mogul Sepp Huber emphasized to Blick: “The plan was to complete negotiations with Vodafone and then make the signed takeover agreement public.”
But stock exchange rules left the group no choice: They were forced to provide information because details of the negotiations were leaked to the Bloomberg news agency.
“Privatization must be examined”
Swisscom, now 51 percent owned by the Confederation, faces fundamental questions about its identity. “It is time to privatize Swisscom,” said “NZZ” after learning of the expansion plans.
Defenders of the free market economy in Federal Bern also want to seize this opportunity. FDP President Thierry Burkart (48) and his party have long been calling for the full privatization of Swisscom. Yesterday GLP President Jürg Grossen (54) sounded a similar note in Blick. “Privatization definitely needs to be examined,” he said.
SVP is also toying with the idea of the federal government selling its stake in the telecom company. Swisscom must be privatized if it wants full entrepreneurial freedom, the party wrote in a statement. “SVP rejects foreign adventures with de facto state guarantee.”
However, it remains unclear what these statements of the SVP mean in practice. The announcement indicates that the final word has not yet been spoken on Italian expansion. It appears that the Federal Council has already approved the takeover; otherwise the negotiations would never have gotten this far.
Therefore, Swisscom does not expect politicians to be able to block the deal. “Swisscom’s board of directors has the authority to approve any acquisition and related contracts,” company spokesman Huber said.
SVP parliamentary group leader Thomas Aeschi (45) did not want to comment to Blick on the question of how his party could stop the takeover. In a survey of all members of the economic and telecommunications committees of both houses, almost all SVP MPs refused to answer.
But the Blick survey shows that privatization plans may certainly have a chance. There is sympathy for this, especially in the Economic Commissions (WAK). For example, in the WAK of the Council of States, 10 out of 13 members participated in the survey. Only two people categorically reject privatization. Five support it, three are open to debate.
It is surprising that centrist representatives like Peter Hegglin (63) can also dream of “total privatization”. However, the Zug State Council believes that “state regulatory action” is still needed in this case.
Profits are private, losses are borne by taxpayers
An alliance consisting of SVP, FDP and GLP in the National Council could form the basis of the project. All three groups have 100 of the 200 seats in the large hall. The central group is likely to tip the scales here too. But there opinions differ. Telecommunications Commission Chairman Philipp Kutter (48) is open to discussing further liberalization but is also considering restrictions: “It is definitely worth considering whether there is a need to have regulation that could prevent sales abroad.”
But for other centrist representatives (mostly from rural cantons) privatization is taboo. Martin Candinas (43), Member of the National Assembly for Grisons, explains: “A completely privatized Swisscom, committing only to returns, would be a disaster for rural and mountain areas.”
SP National Assembly Member Jacqueline Badran (62) finds the discussion of further privatization of Swisscom “completely wrong”. Rather, he is of the opinion that the partial privatization of the company should be reversed. “Essential goods belong to the public sector,” says the economic politician.
Badran’s main point of criticism is this: “If Swisscom is successful, private shareholders will also benefit. But if the company ever encounters existential difficulties, the federal government will eventually step in.” In other words: profits are private, losses are borne by taxpayers.
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
