SMART Telecom have been taken over

Marlow

lawrenceSummer wrote: »

how much profit did they make?
what is their operating costs versus turnover?

I don't care how much profit they made, nor what their operating costs versus turnover is, as I don't work for Smart, nor have enough interests. The fact, that they were making a profit has been covered in press-released, quarterly report etc. You can probably find them, if you want that info.

lawrenceSummer wrote: »

how do you know that it wasnt just trimming all and sundry to make them appear a more cost effective company?

First of all, the reason that smart has a dept that large comes from, that Smart still has a lot of legacy cases and bad decisions in the past. Just to mention one of them, Smart had a 3G license, that they lost. A lot of money down the bin there.

lawrenceSummer wrote: »

and when the new owners take over their opertaing costs are going to go back up?

Can't tell you, as that's down to Digiweb, not down to Smart.

lawrenceSummer wrote: »

If they got that much into debt through expansion, advertising, and chasing market share then what are they going to do different this time around to increase market share, make the existing exchanges more profitable and invest in new ones?

See my comment above. They lost out on a few investments they had. They've also been a lot better to chase moneys owed to them in, in the last 2 years, especially on the business / government contracts.

lawrenceSummer wrote: »

its fair to say thats it has been a flawed business model, (or at best a badly implemented and managed one) LLU may work better in europe where there is higher density housing thus more end users but its not a business model that is working here for smart and what im wondering is what are they going to change to be viable?

It's not the business model that is flawed.

- Until about last year (I think), it cost a 6 digit amount payable to Eircom just to unbundle an exchange. This has nothing to do with density. And that has actually been forced down by comreg. After that, Smart looked at even unbundling more exchanges, as it became more affordable, but probably couldn't due to the debt constrains.

- Smart is one of the very few carriers, that maintain a whole network of dark fiber and licensed microwave links nationally and also maintain links to the UK and other places.

- Smart is one of very few carriers, that would sell wholesale circuits at affordable prices. I'm talking uncontended fiber connections.

A lot of people here don't look at the bigger picture. And the bigger picture is not the residential market, even though the residential market is part of it. It's a combination of all that is covered.

Smart changed the way they do business drastically in the last 2-3 years, even though residential customers might not have noticed that. It's in the corporate/government segment, that the changes were noticable and they were extremely well received.

/M

bk

Marlow wrote: »

Smart changed the way they do business drastically in the last 2-3 years, even though residential customers might not have noticed that. It's in the corporate/government segment, that the changes were noticable and they were extremely well received.

Yes, exactly, I just hope Digiweb don't screw or ignore the residential customers while focusing on corporate/government segment.

Sponge Bob

As long as the 'new smart' does not screw over regional wireess operators of whom may are in the STISP ASN group then we should be OK .

The 'old smart' were not at all active in the wireless space where the 'new smart' is by virtue of ownership . Then again a statement from on high as to what will happen would be very straightforward and would clear the air .

Sponge Bob

...and of course I forgot to mention that no such statement can be made until the Commercial Court 'examines the Examiner' and approves of the survival plan . That is also why Digiweb have made no public comment about any of this . see

Next week some time hopefully .. Now were I ESB Telecom

NedTermo

Steffano2002 wrote: »

You're probably happy with Digiweb (and IBB previously) because your broadband expectations are "low" (for lack of a better term). You can't play online with Metro. You can't download that fast. The connection can be erratic. The download caps unrealistic in this day and age. That's why users complain. Not because "they just like complaining".

But again, I hope I'm worng...

I've been an IBB, Eircom, Magnet, NTL and SMART broadand Customer. Smart and Magnet set the bar pretty high. I don't think Digiweb can follow through here...

I game daily on Metro and my connection has never dropped in 3 years.
Just my experience.

vsat

Good luck Digiweb, with your new project, hope you's can move forward.
you's have all the schools with satellite broadband now , contact a professional body for installers www.isaa.tv .




regards,

helimachoptor

Sponge Bob wrote: »

The 'old smart' were not at all active in the wireless space where the 'new smart' is by virtue of ownership . Then again a statement from on high as to what will happen would be very straightforward and would clear the air .

the "old smart" was quite active in the licenced radio space but not the wireless space that Digiweb operates in.

kippy

Marlow wrote: »

That's because you don't seem to realize, that Smarts Business Plan half a year ago is so much different from what it was when spending was massive. Or you just absolutely want to try to bring your point across that no cap isn't sustainable.

Whatever your agenda is, it's a fact, that Smart actually was doing really well in the last year, especially when you look at the business and government contracts. They just didn't do well enough to get rid of some of the legacy debt, that has been generated. That issue is solved now.

The way they've done business as of later, by focusing on their core markets and cutting the crap out, is very sustainable in the form that Smart is doing business lets say the last 6 months.

/M

I have no agenda.
And again, it matters little that they had a great last six months.
The business plan the company was operating with, was OBVIOUSLY UNSUSTAINABLE.
The advertising/marketing and investment in infrastructure was part of the business plan, and if they cannot afford to pay back the debt from those practices, the plan is flawed.
To suggest otherwise is plain wrong.

I dont give a **** about caps or lack thereof, I merely make the point that people have to pay for what they get.
Some people started moaning about digiweb as soon as this thread started, something I found to be completely unfair and based on unrealistic expectations and facing reality.

Apologies for those I have offended on this thread, I hope you all get your capless, quality product from Smart as it always was.

bk

Kippy, I think the point is that Smart's old business plan is now irrelevant given that Digiweb are taking over and will likely be able to force Smarts creditors to write off much of the debt.

Therefore as long as Digiweb don't go on some mad advertising spending spree, there is no reason why they can't run the Smart network profitably with the current prices and offerings.

With efficiencies gained from merging their operations and with Comreg's recent moves to lower LLU costs, they may even be in a position to drop prices, improve offerings (speeds, etc.) and possibly even unbundle more exchanges.

Looking at their position in the market and their competitors, there is no room for them to increase prices or reduce the quality of their products.

How could they increase prices when UPC already offer 20mb/1.5mb for just €42 per month and Smart operate mostly in the same places as UPC?

Sponge Bob

Now they have been taken over .

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14628/business/smart-exits-examinership-now-in-digiweb-stable

08.12.2009
Fibre and DSL provider Smart Telecom has exited the examinership process with the High Court’s approval and will now become a fully owned entity within Digiweb, it emerged this afternoon.

And now Digiweb can comment about what it means seeing as the judge has finally approved the process.

Chaz

helimachoptor wrote: »

the "old smart" was quite active in the licenced radio space but not the wireless space that Digiweb operates in.

Just different frequencies or due to another reason?