3 Key Findings from Day 1 @totaltelecom #FinanceSummit

Yesterday's first Total Telecom Finance Summit saw great turn out of telco executives from across the globe gather to discuss issues ranging from Operator Business Models to Funding and Investment Strategies.

A long days wrapped at gone 6pm with an outstanding predation from Lloyds Banking Group Chief Economist, Trevor Williams. His gripping presentation illustrated clearly by an audience staying to ask questions despite an agenda that had run well over time!

Moderator for the day, Roland da Silva then ably wrapped up with three key themes from the day:

1. Now is critical - Joe Gallagher of KPMG had early in the day urged the operators present to Be Brave, stressing that decision made now will influence the future.

2. Get the basics right - CFO of Vimpelcom, Hank van Dalen had been briefed to offer a futuristic vision, but underlying this was the important message that you must do the basics well.

3. Learn the lessons - many speakers had alluded to the current economic situation, but Roland finished reminding us that we will come out of recession and should take the lessons learned with us for the future.

Day 2 promises to bring more key lessons for those seeking to understand the business of telecoms. 

Some of the speakers insights can be read in the event eBook.

KPMG and Lloyds Bank sponsor the #FinanceSummit

C-ing The Light

It's musical chairs for the CxO's with Luis Alvarez appointment at BT Global Services arguably the biggest news, but we've also seen Mario Rossi named as the new CFO at Swisscom and Telefónica European head José María Álvarez-Pallete promoted to chief operating officer.


There's a common language to the appointments with BT talking of an "important juncture for BT Global Services", Swisscom a "broader push to overhaul the telco's senior management" and  Telefónica  looking to create an organisational structure that would be “stable over time and ready to compete internationally”. Fundamentally this reflects telco's looking to better their current performance, but not just in terms of revenues and profits, but also in terms of financial market perception.

This is a key driver for the operators who are constantly looking to reassure the markets and is an area that will be discussed in the Financial Markets session of the Total Telecom Finance Summit. During this session two leaders, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings will offer a credit ratings perspective of how to keep the market onside.

If this is a discussion that matters to you, then make sure you book your place at the Finance Summit before the 21 September to guarantee the best possible price. With participants already confirmed from operators including AT&T, BT Global Services, Cell C, Colt, du, Easynet, Everything Everywhere, Interoute, Orange, Swisscom, Telecom Italia, Telstra Global, Turk Telecom, Verizon, and Virgin Media, you'll be in excellent company! View the delegate list HERE 

Monday Telecom Headlines: 17 September

• Mobile operators see costs now, gains later from new iPhone 
• Chinese vendors face skeptical US lawmakers
• BT revenues will continue to fall, but outlook positive 
• Swisscom names new CFO
• Italy's antitrust watchdog launches telco probe

** CATCH UP ON THE REST OF THE WEEK'S NEWS WITH THE FRIDAY REVIEW **

Mobile operators see costs now, gains later from new iPhone
Analyst cuts Q3 earnings estimates for AT&T, Sprint, Verizon to reflect higher subsidy costs.
http://goo.gl/1kJBF

Chinese vendors face skeptical US lawmakers
Huawei, ZTE head to Washington to dispute suggestions that U.S. expansion represents national security threat.
http://goo.gl/zbtza

BT revenues will continue to fall, but outlook positive
Ratings firm upgrades U.K. incumbent's outlook thanks to solid operating performance and strong free cash flow generation.
http://goo.gl/ASqAC

Swisscom names new CFO
Mario Rossi to replace Ueli Dietiker as telco overhauls senior management in bid to shore up domestic business.
http://goo.gl/KjqRz

Italy's antitrust watchdog launches telco probe
Regulator investigating whether Vodafone, Wind, Telecom Italia agreed to block Bip from market.
http://goo.gl/vtulj

Friday Review: Particle physics
U.K. mobile operator goes dotty with rebranding exercise as iPhone 5 grabs the world's attention.
http://goo.gl/e3RnP

From Russia with Love #FinanceSummit

OK, so we can't promise Mr Bond, but at the Total Telecom Finance Summit on the 10 & 11 October you can meet Henk van Dalen, the CFO of leading Russian operator, VimpelCom.

His keynote on the morning of day 1 provides provides a futuristic vision of the telecom finance and investment landscape in 2013 and beyond, something he's well qualified to comment on considering that in July alone VimpelCom have announced several major and innovative initiatives. These include:

• a global M2M alliance with partners at KPN, NTT Docomo, Rogers, SingTel, Telefonica, and Telstra aimed at increasing their capability to offer better value propositions to their customers in different markets and geographies.
• have won one of four wins LTE licenses in Russia

This type of initiative is illustrative of the type of experiences you will be able to hear about and discuss at the Finance Summit, living up to the strapline of "Best practice finance strategies for global telecoms".

To find out more about the Summit and speakers, visit www.totaltele.com/financesummit

Stock response: hitting the buffers

Embattled device produced HTC has a new CFO - we reported this on Total Telecom yesterday - but our headline didn't shout at me in quite the same was as that of Business Insider.

"HTC Is Getting Clobbered After Its CFO Unexpectedly Leaves The Company" was the title followed up by a quote from Tom Tang, a vice president at Masterlink Investment Advisory in Taipei "When a company changes its CFO, it often indicates that the company's operations or financials have reached a bottleneck."

This resonated with me as it's one of the themes that will be addressed at the forthcoming Total Telecom Finance Summit in October (tweet with #TTFS12). If this interests you, why not speak to us about how you can get involved or Save the Date to attend: 10 & 11 October, London

www.totaltele.com/financesummit


[Image: ©Fredgoldstein Stock Free Images]