Wednesday November 14, 11:41 AM
Swisscom, BT redefine partnership as joint venture wound up
BERN (AFP) - Telecoms operators Swisscom (Virt-X: SCMN.VX - news) and BT (LSE: BT-A.L - news) on Wednesday wound up their Infonet Switzerland joint venture as they unveiled new cooperation plans which they said would better meet the needs of customers.
The British operator will acquire all of Infonet Switzerland's assets, contracts and employees for around 6.6 million Swiss francs (4.0 million euros, 5.9 million dollars) in cash, Swisscom said in a statement.
In a related transaction, Swisscom will pay 500,000 Swiss francs for BT's existing 10 percent shareholding in Infonet Switzerland, following which the joint venture will effectively be wound up.
Under the new arrangements, customers in Switzerland will be offered information and communications technologies (ICT) from the global BT portfolio, while the two operators will link up their internet protocol (IP) networks to boost phone-over-internet services.
"Everyone wins in this situation," said Urs Schaeppi, chief executive of Swisscom Solutions.
"Swisscom benefits from the worldwide high-speed data networks and the excellent international standing of its partner BT, while BT gains from the reputation and strong customer relations of Swisscom in the national market," he said.
The deal is expected to be completed by the end of November (Frankfurt: A0S9N7 - news) .
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