By Ben King, 22 October 2001 18:40
NEWS Cash-starved Finnish telco Sonera has announced it will cut down on 3G investments in a bid to tackle its mounting debt. The group will invest no more in its Group 3G German operations, and will cut its investments in Italian and Spanish 3G operations to the E500m (£313.5m) allowed under existing licensing deals. Sonera also pledged to cut losses in its Zed portal and SmarTrust encryption business to E4.0bn (£2.5bn) before interest, taxes, depreciation and debt amortisation (EBITDA) this year, and to break even next year. Sonera announced a E1bn (£600m) rights issue in a bid to tackle its E4bn (£2bn) debt mountain. The group has been pressured by credit ratings agencies to cut its debt to E2.5bn (£1.5bn). The Finnish state, which owns 53 per cent of Sonera, has agreed to underwrite the issue.
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