Troubled telco Vodafone is on the market, says reports.
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Vodafone Australia is being flogged to potential investors in Asia and Europe, where an information memorandum on the company is being passed around in a bid to gain valuation of the company, according to The Australian.
Telco’s Korea Telecom, Japan’s NTT Docomo and Qtel are said to be among the potential investors presented with the Vodafone offer.
A company spokesperson denied the reports, insisting it “remains fully committed to our operations in Australia.”
The sale rumours come in the wake of VHA’s $167m loss announced this month, blamed on the Pr nightmare that was its widespread network failure, which saw and a mass backlash from millions of customers, who suffered call dropouts, slow data speeds and lack of 3G coverage, earning it the name ‘Vodafail.’
The No.3 telco in Australia is a 50:50 joint venture between Vodafone UK and Hutchinson Telecommunications, VHA .
Voda’s user base dwindling to 7 million (from 7.2 m in June) meaning it lost 200,000 users in the last six months to December 2011, with disgruntled customers thought to have gone to Optus and Telstra, both of whom recorded rising subscriber bases of late.
“The operational turnaround of (VHA) is underway and network investment is on track,” the company insisted at its latest earnings call.
Currently, it is expanding coverage underway and network performance as part of its $1 billion investment programme.
The troubled telco has made many other efforts to get back in the race of late, slashing mobile and tablet plans, undercutting Telstra on new iPad pricing, out today, and giving a customer guarantee on its network.
Read: iPad War: Vodafone Assault Telstra Plans $47 + 2GB Here
