Victoria Fox's Blog, page 116
March 26, 2024
The Government reiterates that it wants to buy 10% of Telefónica "as quickly as possible"
“What I can tell you is that, in terms of the deadlines to complete this purchase, it will be done as quickly as possible, in the shortest possible time , obviously, as long as, in addition, it does not affect the company’s price,” he said. Alegría stressed at the press conference after the Council of Ministers, Europa Press reports.
Alegría’s statements come one day after the State Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI) made official the acquisition of 3.044% of Telefónica, according to the records of the National Securities Market Commission.
The share package that the Government owns in Telefónica has a current market price of around 700 million euros , with the operator’s price around 4 euros. At the current market price, completing the purchase of the other 7% of the operator would cost around 1.6 billion euros .
On the other hand, Alegría has also stressed that the Executive’s objective is to give “greater shareholder stability” to Telefónica and “safeguard” the capabilities of a company, which, as he has pointed out, is “strategic for national interests.” “It is a formula that is also being carried out in other surrounding countries,” he added.
Last December, the Government ordered the SEPI to acquire up to 10% of Telefónica, a movement that occurred in reaction to the landing of the Saudi operator STC in the company last September, when it acquired 9.9% of the company (4 .9% in direct shares and 5% in derivatives) for 2,100 million euros.
In this context, it is worth remembering that the Government’s decision not to present new General State Budgets for 2024 and to extend those of the previous year raised certain doubts about how the State was going to proceed to finance its entry into the Telefónica shareholding.
However, in the middle of this month the Government assured that the order transmitted to the SEPI last December “is maintained” despite that decision by the Executive.
Once the route of financing participation via Budgets has been frustrated, the Government has other options to carry out the operation (through an increase in debt, for example), although it has not yet revealed which one it has opted for.
Cellnex explores the partial sale of its real estate subsidiary
Sign Goldman Sachs to study the entry of a minority partner in the company that will have your land.
Cellnex , Europe’s leading Spanish telecommunications infrastructure group, has engaged the services of US business bank Goldman Sachs to explore the sale of a minority stake in the new terr company.
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The ‘teleco’ board will bring to the April meeting the renewal of José Javier Echenique, Peter Löscher, Verónica Pascual and Claudia Sender, which protects the independent members of the Telefónica board (the rest of the members fulfill their terms in 2025 and 2026), since it will make it more complex to appoint new directors by STC and Sepi.
If the two investors want to appoint representatives, an extraordinary meeting would have to be called – or wait until 2025 – to raise the number of directors above the current figure of 15, which would also violate good governance recommendations.
Ta
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The state of Florida has just ratified one of the most restrictive laws in the United States to limit minors’ access to social networks.
Republican Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a controversial bill passed by the state Congress that prohibits minors under 14 from having social media accounts and requires 15- and 16-year-olds to ask their parents for permission before opening them.
The law will take effect on January 1, 2025 . Social media platforms such as Instagram,
The regulations also require companies to use a third-party verification system to screen out minors. “Social media harms children in many ways,” DeSantis said in a statement. The legislation “gives parents greater ability to protect their children.”
DeSantis and the promoters of the law maintain that the mental health of children and adolescents can be affected by the content of social networks and the interactions they have on these platforms.
The law signed by the Republican governor is a bit far from the legislative proposal that he himself vetoed last month. The Florida legislature then approved a bill that completely prohibited the access of minors under 16 years of age to social networks.
However, DeSantis rejected it, considering that the ban limited parental rights. Supporters of the rule hope that the legislation will put a stop to the harmful effects such as anxiety, depression, addiction and other mental illnesses that plague minors due to online interactions.
Critics of the law, on the other hand, point out that the law violates the protections of the First Amendment of the US Constitution to freedom of expression , considering that parents, and not the government, are responsible for making decisions about the presence of their children, of all ages, on social networks.
Goal Rejection
The company created by Mark Zuckerberg, parent company of Instagram and Facebook, was the only one that opposed the legislation, arguing that it will present privacy problems for users’ personal data, by having to provide personal information to verify their age.
However, the company was in favor of federal legislation so that when downloading online applications, parental approval is guaranteed for children to do so.
The Florida law does not refer to any specific social network, but states that it targets sites that promote “infinite browsing”, display reaction metrics such as “likes”, include auto-playing videos and have broadcasts. live and notifications. Since all these interactions have addictive effects on users.
In this way, websites and applications whose main function is email or text messages, such as WhatsApp, between a sender and a recipient without unlimited interactions, are exempt from the regulations .
The measure forces social media companies to permanently delete personal information collected from terminated accounts and allows parents to file civil lawsuits against companies that fail to do so.
In March 2023, Utah became the first state in the country to adopt laws to regulate children’s access to social media, followed by Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio and Texas. Other states in the country such as New Jersey are studying similar regulations.
Orange and MásMóvil close their merger and create the leader of 'telecos' by customers
Orange and MásMóvil have announced today the creation of their new Joint Venture , thus completing the agreement to combine their operations in Spain, as EXPANSIÓN announced yesterday. Orange and MásMóvil shareholders each own a 50% stake in the Joint Venture with equal governance rights in the combined entity. Orange ‘s subsidiaries in Spain are 100% controlled by the French telecommunications group, which has a participation of the French State of around 23% of the capital. For its part, MásMóvil is owned around 85% by the Anglo-Saxon venture capital groups KKR, Providence and Cinven, while the remaining 15% of the capital is owned by a group of Spanish shareholders, including the Ybarra Careaga family, José Eulalio Poza and Inveready, the venture capital fund controlled by Josep María Echarri.
With more than 37 million lines between broadband and mobile (7.7 million broadband and 30.2 million mobile lines) the new entity becomes the leading operator in the telecommunications market in Spain by number of clients. The firm has indicated that it also wants to lead in fiber and mobile coverage. The two companies have explained that “its creation gives rise to a sustainable operator with the necessary financial capacity to continue investing in new generation networks for the benefit of the market, consumers and Spanish companies.”
According to revised estimates, the new company is expected to generate synergies of more than €490 million per year starting in the fourth year after closure. According to the preliminary closing accounts, the asymmetric mega-dividend that will be distributed will be approximately 4.4 billion for Orange and approximately 1.65 billion for MásMóvil shareholders. This means for Orange an additional 200 million euros compared to what was expected , as EXPANSIÓN announced yesterday.
The companies ( Orange España and MásMóvil ) will operate as a single entity. The accounts of both companies will be consolidated into a new legal entity already registered. As planned, the new company is operational as of today.
Jean François Fallacher, current CEO of Orange France, has been appointed non-executive president of the new Company. Jean François, who served as CEO of Orange Spain between September 2020 and April 2023, has extensive experience in the Spanish market.
The Board of Directors of the Joint-Venture has also confirmed the appointment as CEO of Meinrad Spenger , CEO of MásMóvil since 2006, and of Alberto Castañeda, as Secretary of the Board of Directors. Ludovic Pech and Germán López have also been confirmed as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO), respectively.
Christel Heydeman, CEO of Orange, said: “Today’s announcement is an important step in the development of Orange’s long-term strategic plan in Europe. By creating a stronger and more sustainable operator, the Joint Venture launched today will help drive “Innovation and investment in high-speed broadband and digital services in Spain. This is clearly a positive step forward in our overall vision of a strong and prosperous European telecommunications industry.”
“It is a great honor and an enormous responsibility to offer service to our more than 30M clients in Spain. We will strive to ensure that they continue to be the most satisfied clients in our country. With this Joint Venture the Spanish telecommunications market now has a stronger company, with the capacity to innovate and invest and to become the trusted partner for our individual and corporate clients,” said Meinrad Spenger, CEO of the Joint Venture.
Sepi could already have another 2% of Telefónica through financial derivatives
The Executive’s intention would be to bring out “shortly” that additional 2% deposited in a swap and place the State’s participation in the company at 5%.
The State Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI) , an entity dependent on the Ministry of Finance and through which the Government already owns 3.044% of Telefónica’s share capital, would have parked another 2% more in financial derivatives , p
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“Nothing about this case is normal.” Anyone who follows Julian Assange’s trials in the British courts has heard this sentence countless times, and his supporters like to say it often. He can mean many things, of course how extraordinary the content of this case is, but most often that one can make absolutely no binding statements about what might happen next in the processes surrounding his extradition to the USA.
On Tuesday it’s a sentence that fits pretty well. Because actually, well: normally, two judges of the British High Court should have made a (final) decision: Do they reject an appeal from Assange’s defense and thus, from a British perspective, clear the way for his extradition to the USA? Or do they allow the appeal – and the proceedings continue in court?
Julian Assange: WikiLeaks founder Assange may not be extradited immediately
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FurtherWikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may not be extradited to the USA immediately. This was decided by the British High Court. The court initially demanded security guarantees from the USA in the event of the whistleblower being extradited.
The US government must guarantee “in a satisfactory manner” within three weeks that Assange will face a trial in the USA that takes into account freedom of expression and freedom of the press and that he will not face a death sentence, the court said. If the US government delivers the guarantees, a decision will be made in May as to whether they are sufficient. Only then will a final decision be made on the appeal application. However, if there were no guarantees at all, Assange’s appeal would be heard, the court said. In this case, the court gives Assange’s appeal a “real chance of success.”
According to the verdict, this is justified by three of the nine grounds of appeal cited by Assange’s defense. Accordingly, extradition could be incompatible with the right to freedom of expression. In addition, Assange could be disadvantaged in a US court because of his nationality. Finally, if he is extradited, he may not be adequately protected from the death penalty.
However, the court did not see any right to appeal on the grounds that the US charges against Assange were politically motivated. As evidence of this, Assange cited a planned kidnapping on British soil by the US secret service CIA. However, the court ruled that this was “not related to the extradition proceedings”.
The verdict gives Assange time – but no securityThe High Court’s latest decision postpones a final decision on whether Assange’s legal remedies in the UK against the British government’s extradition decision have been fully exhausted.
In a ruling in June 2023, another judge on the court rejected Assange’s appeal against the British government’s extradition decision. Relatives and defenders of Assange then feared that a quick extradition to the USA could follow. Assange appealed and has now achieved partial success.
There was initially no reaction from the US government. Whether and how the USA will provide the required guarantees remains to be seen. If the USA provides the required guarantees and the extradition request is granted, Assange’s last resort would be to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. However, the organization Reporters Without Borders until recently considered it questionable whether a decision there could prevent extradition by Great Britain to the USA.
Assange faces 175 years in prisonThe 52-year-old Assange has been in the British high-security Belmarsh prison for almost five years. The native Australian had previously been granted political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for almost seven years.
Assange is awaiting trial in the USA on espionage charges. The organization he co-founded, WikiLeaks, had published secret material about US diplomatic and military activities in collaboration with US whistleblower Chelsea Manning. If extradited to the USA, Assange could be sentenced to a prison sentence of up to 175 years.
Manning, who was pardoned by US President Barack Obama after a sentence of 35 years in prison, was temporarily in custody because she did not want to testify against Assange. The UN accuses the US government of torture in her case. The efforts against Assange’s extradition should also be seen against this background.
The approximately 700,000 secret documents that were published via WikiLeaks contained, among other things, information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The publication revealed, among other things, the targeted killing of civilians and the mistreatment of prisoners by the USA.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may not be extradited to the USA immediately. This was decided by the British High Court. The court initially demanded security guarantees from the USA in the event of the whistleblower being extradited.
The US government must guarantee “in a satisfactory manner” within three weeks that Assange will face a trial in the USA that takes into account freedom of expression and freedom of the press and that he will not face a death sentence, the court said. If the US government delivers the guarantees, a decision will be made in May as to whether they are sufficient. Only then will a final decision be made on the appeal application. However, if there were no guarantees at all, Assange’s appeal would be heard, the court said. In this case, the court gives Assange’s appeal a “real chance of success.”
March 25, 2024
The Korean Hancom will invest 5 million in Facephi to be its second largest shareholder
The Korean group will only be surpassed by the Swiss Nice&Green in the capital of the Alicante technology company.
The Alicante technology company Facephi, specialized in digital identity verification, has reached an agreement with the Korean business conglomerate Hancom Group so that it can formalize an investment of 5 million euros and take over the dist
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Or sign up with your Google account in two clicksThe National Court suspends the precautionary blocking of Telegram for being "excessive"
The judge annuls an order issued three days ago in which he ordered to provisionally block access to the application after verifying that the measure is “excessive and not proportional”
The National Court reverses and has agreed to annul the precautionary blockade of Telegram agreed three days ago after receiving a report from the Police, commissioned a few hours ago, in which it is concluded that the blockade would cause “clear damage to those millions of users” who use the platform legally, in addition to an “economic impact” for the companies and individuals who use it in their daily communication activity, according to a document to which EXPANSIÓN has had access.
Judge Santiago Pedraz has made this decision three days after issuing an order in which he ordered the main telecommunications operators in the country to block access to this social network after a complaint filed by the Producers’ Rights Management Entity. Audiovisuals (EGEDA) for sharing content protected by intellectual property rights. Groups such as Atresmedia, Mediaset, Movistar+, LaLiga and Mediapro are participating in the case.
In the order, the judge pointed out that the authorities of the British Virgin Islands (where Telegram’s headquarters are located) have not collaborated with the rogatory commission sent to Telegram to report certain data and identify the owners of the accounts used to the infringement.
Given the lack of information from the company, the judge agreed to suspend the service as a precautionary measure, as Egeda had requested in his complaint if Telegram refused to collaborate. This precautionary suspension had the support of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Now, Judge Pedraz is backing down after confirming that the measure “would be excessive and not proportional” due to the enormous impact it would have on the community of Telegram users. In the resolution, Pedraz explains that Telegram’s collaboration is necessary to advance the investigation and recalls that the Digital Services Law (DSA) and the Digital Market Law (DMA) require establishing “a point of contact for authorities and users.” to report criminal offences, an issue “to be resolved by the legislator and which will undoubtedly be done by European demand”.
“Telegram, like the rest of the large platforms, will necessarily have to respond for the point of contact in Europe to, as in the present case, require precise information,” concludes the judge.
One year of researchIn the complaint filed by Egeda a year ago, to which EXPANSIÓN has had access, the entity denounces the “unknown owners” of a series of Telegram channels in which films, episodes of series are distributed (Cuéntame, Águila Roja, Acacias 38, There is no one who lives here… etc) and to Telegram itself, whose headquarters is located in the British Virgin Islands.
Egeda hired an external consultant to carry out an investigation that included “several requirements for the removal of content”, without obtaining a response to any of them.
“Telegram as a service provider is not neutral, because after having effective knowledge of the illegal activity carried out through the channels created ad hoc in its system, it ignores the requests sent,” the letter states, recalling that “it will be responsible of the infringement who, having reasonable evidence to know of an infringing activity, such as in this case Telegram, does not act to prevent it”.
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