By Archibald Preuschat
Germany is a blueprint for the future of Vodafone Group PLC in
other countries, Vodafone's Chief Executive Vittorio Colao said at
the CeBit fair in Hannover on Monday.
After buying German cable network operator Kabel Deutschland
last year for EUR10 billion ($13.87 billion), including debt,
Vodafone is an integrated provider in Germany and will task Kabel
Deutschland executives with managing its fixed-network activities.
"Within Germany, and possibly outside Germany," Mr. Colao said,
without elaborating, noting that he plans to pay a visit to Kabel
Deutschland's management this week.
"Germany, within the Vodafone Group, is always one to two years
ahead of units in other countries," Mr. Colao added.
Mr. Colao declined to comment on speculation about whether
Vodafone will make a formal offer for Spanish cable company Ono
SA.
Vodafone is pumping billions of euros into the expansion of its
German network, he said, after conceding that the company had
placed too much emphasis on LTE networks in the past, to the
detriment of its second and third generation networks in
Germany.
This is a long-term challenge, Mr. Colao said.
"I don't have any problem with being No. 2 in Germany--Deutsche
Telekom is a great company," he said.
"I said the same thing in Italy 15 years ago, and today we're
No. 1 there," he quipped.
Write to Archibald Preuschat at archibald.preuschat@wsj.com
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