Telstra Restructure
- Telstra has proposed a major restructure of its operations, splitting itself into three legal entities.
- David Swan at The Australian writes “The three components of the structure will be InfraCo Fixed, which would own and operate Telstra’s fixed line assets; InfraCo Towers, which would own the fixed wireless assets like towers in Telstra’s mobile network, and ServeCo, which would “own the active parts of the network, including the radio access network and spectrum assets”.
- The proposed restructure is scheduled to be completed by December 2021. The three business units will operate under the parent company Telstra Group.
Non-paywalled:
- CEO Andrew Penn called the restructure Telstra’s “biggest since privatisation” and said it would involve extensive consultation with staff, regulators, unions and other interested parties.
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/telstra-plans-to-split-into-three-subsidiaries-555788
- They also might start selling electricity to consumers: Andy Penn says they are applying for the necessary licences in the coming weeks. Telstra has an experienced energy team & is already heavily involved in the renewable energy sector “"We already underwrite projects that generate enough renewable energy to power about 100,000 homes, and we provide standby power that enables more renewable energy to be absorbed into the energy grid,” Penn said.
Trump administration forgets to ban TikTok
https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/10/21559677/tiktok-cfius-court-petition-ban-deadline
- TikTok has filed a petition in a US Court of Appeals calling for a review of actions by the Trump administration’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States The reason, according to the company, is that it hasn’t heard from the committee in weeks about an imminent deadline for parent company ByteDance to sell off US assets over national security concerns.
- It seems that Trump’s demands on TikTok were more motivated by headlines than any real policy, and
- The committee set the deadline of November 12th for TikTok to divest itself of “any tangible or intangible assets or property, wherever located, used to enable or support ByteDance’s operation of the TikTok application in the United States.” TikTok says it applied for a 30-day extension that was allowed for in the CFIUS’ order, but hasn’t received any communication on the matter
- The firm is in the process is of establishing TikTok Global in partnership with Oracle and Walmart, which President Trump approved in September. But the deal was never sanctioned by the Chinese government, and it’s been in limbo ever since.
Singles Day
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/alibaba-s-singles-day-sales-soar-to-103b-but-shares-slump-on-crackdown-20201112-p56dtt.html