Page 38 - SAMENA Trends - October 2019

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

AT&T Sells 1,000 Towers to Peppertree for USD680m; Offloads CME Assets
to PPF

AT&T Inc. has agreed to a sale-leaseback as it continues to pay down debt. The CME is a media and entertainment
of its remaining domestic company-owned transaction is subject to certain closing company operating leading businesses in
wireless towers to Peppertree Capital conditions, including due diligence. AT&T five Central and Eastern European markets
Management. Under the terms of the sale, expects to close a substantial number – Bulgaria, Czechia, Romania, Slovakia and
which is valued at up to USD680 million, of the towers by the end of the year. In a Slovenia – with an aggregate population
Peppertree will purchase more than 1,000 second notable strategic divestment, AT&T of approximately 45 million people. AT&T
AT&T towers, and AT&T will lease back has agreed to sell Central European Media inherited the stake in CME when it acquired
capacity on the towers from Peppertree. Enterprises (CME) to an affiliate of Petr Time Warner in June 2018.
The sale is consistent with AT&T’s Kellner’s PPF Group in a cash transaction
plans to monetize non-strategic assets valued at approximately USD2.1 billion.

AT&T to Sell Puerto Rico, USVI Operations to Liberty Latin America for
USD1.95Bn

Liberty Latin America (LLA) has entered backhaul network. Under terms of the Communications Commission (FCC) and
into a definitive agreement to acquire AT&T agreement, AT&T will retain responsibilities the Department of Justice (DoJ). The
Inc.’s wireless and wireline operations for the FirstNet first responder program as parties expect the transaction to close in Q2
in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands well as continuing to serve DirecTV pay- 2020. TeleGeography notes that this deal
in an all-cash transaction with an TV customers and preserving ‘certain represents LLA’s third notable takeover
enterprise value of USD1.95 billion. The global business customer relationships’. since its ‘split-off’ from UK-based Liberty
transaction includes network assets, Further, AT&T has agreed to support LLA Global plc in December 2017. In February
including spectrum; real estate and for a period up to 36 months following the 2018 it agreed to purchase an 80% stake in
leases; customers, including 1.1 million acquisition, enabling the efficient transition Costa Rica’s Cabletica for USD245.7 million
wireless subscribers; and contracts. At of services. Following the acquisition, and in March 2019 LLA agreed to acquire
close, approximately 1,300 current AT&T customers will continue to benefit from an 87.5% controlling stake in Curacao-
employees will move to LLA. In Puerto free roaming services between Puerto based United Telecommunication Services
Rico, which represents approximately Rico, the US Virgin Islands, mainland US, (UTS) for USD165.4 million, going on to
90% of the revenue of the assets to be Mexico and Canada. The transaction is secure the remainder of the company in
acquired, AT&T is the leading provider of subject to customary closing conditions, September 2019.
mobile services and also operates a fiber including reviews by the US Federal

AT&T Awards Developers and Creators
at 5G Experience Hackathon

More than 200 developers, designers and creators descended upon
Los Angeles this past weekend to build and test mobile solutions
using the high bandwidth and low latency of AT&T’s 5G+ network,
which reached speeds up to 1.8 Gb per second onsite. In one of the
first 5G hackathons in the industry, participants on over 40 teams
came together to highlight the potential of 5G to disrupt the way
we experience, consume and create content, all while competing for
$100,000 in cash prizes. This hackathon is an important milestone
as we develop compelling 5G use cases ahead of making the network
available to consumers later this year. All submissions were conducted
on a Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, initially made available to select AT&T
businesses and developers this past summer, using the onsite 5G
network.

38 OCTOBER 2019