Yahoo's Japanese subsidiary has announced that it is buying the local mobile network operator eAccess from Softbank for US$3.17 billion.
However, as Softbank owns around 42.5 percent of Yahoo Japan, it is less a sale than a shuffling of assets by Softbank.
In a statement, Yahoo Japan said that the deal is subject to the previously announced merger of eAccess and Willcom being completed. That deal was announced last July, as a condition of Willcom leaving bankruptcy protection.
The transaction is expected to take place on the 2nd June 2014, one day after the eAccess/Willcom merger is expected to complete.
Yahoo Japan said that it plans to buy the mobile network as part of its "smart devices first" policy and would rebrand the mobile network as Y!mobile, which it said would be delivered under the concept of "Delivering the Joy and Convenience of the Internet to Everyone".
eAccess has around 4.5 million customers, and Willcom is estimated to have somewhere above 5 million customers. The deal also gives Yahoo access to eAccess's roughly 3,000 retail outlets to promote its internet services.
No comments:
Post a Comment