Europe - Functional Separation Developments - 2009

Synopsis

Functional or structural separation continues to be an exciting development in Europe. Beginning with British Telecom, the years of debate have been acted on and during 2009 a number of plans will be implemented to alter the fundamental structure of several European incumbents. These developments are possible as much through the introduction of far-reaching regulatory reforms as through the relative fortunes of individual companies which have placed greater political and commercial pressure on them to unshackle their various divisions, and cease being vertically integrated operators. The commercial success of BT since it underwent this process is proof that component companies can generate more value separately than they would if retained under the umbrella of the parent company. This report analyses structural separation in Europe in 2009. It provides the background to this important development, assesses the main drivers pushing for reform and evaluates how the wider telco markets may fare in coming years.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Overview – drivers for functional separation
  • 2.1 Defining functional separation
  • 2.2 What it means when it works
  • 2.3 Incumbents under pressure
• 3. The EC’s perspective
  • 3.1 New Regulatory Package – 2010
• 4. The Private equity angle
  • 4.1 Background
  • 4.2 The investors’ perspective
  • 4.3 Ireland
    • 4.3.1 Been there before
    • 4.3.2 Second time around
    • 4.3.3 Political pressure to separate
    • 4.3.4 Developments in 2008
  • 4.4 Denmark
• 5. Government push
  • 5.1 Italy
    • 5.1.1 Functional separation
    • 5.1.2 Company sale
• 6. Regulatory push
  • 6.1 UK
    • 6.1.1 BT’s structural separation
    • 6.1.2 Openreach
    • 6.1.3 BT - a success story
  • 6.2 Sweden
  • 6.3 Poland
  • 6.4 Portugal
  • 6.5 The Netherlands
• 7. Disaster-driven
  • 7.1 Germany
    • 7.1.1 DT’s structural review
    • 7.1.2 Regulator pressure
• 8. International developments
  • 8.1 Singapore
  • 8.2 New Zealand
  • 8.3 Australia
• 9. Related reports