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TDF Buys Antenna Hungária – There’s Big Money in Towers and Transmitters

One of the safest media investments is not in media at all. Infrastructure providers – the tower and transmitter companies – collect fees from broadcasters, mobile network companies and government services. All they have to do is keep the lights on.

Telediffusion de France (TDF) is one of the largest tower and transmitter operators in the world, stretched throughout Europe and Africa. Last week it picked up Antenna Hungária, Hungary’s broadcast infrastructure provider, from Swisscom Broadcast for €327 million. Swisscom purchased Antenna Hungária in a privatization auction just over a year ago and now pockets €100 million on the deal.

Most broadcast infrastructure companies are, now, remnants of former State broadcasting systems and ripe picking for other former State companies. TDF and Swisscom have been more or less privatized, keeping close relationships with State broadcasters and other semi-privatized companies. TDF had bid on Antenna Hungária in the original auction. Other bidders included Macquarie Bank (owner of UK broadcast infrastructure companies, as well as toll-roads and airports), Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF-Austrian public broadcasting) and Ceské Radiokomunikace (Czech infrastructure company, purchased at a privatization auction by Iceland billionaire Thor Bjorgolfsson and a group of former Deutsche Bank executives)

Swisscom sold Antenna Hungária because it could not expand into other, similar companies. During its brief stay in Hungary, Swisscom put digital development on hold. TDF says it will pick up from where Swisscom left off.

Swisscom said it will use the proceeds in its bid for Italian Internet provider FastWeb. – May 14, 2007

Keywords:privatization,broadcasting in Hungary

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