AAPT & AOL In JV To Take On Australia

Australia’s number 3 ranked telco AAPT and America Online
announced a 50/50 joint venture to operate AOL Australia
Thursday morning.

AOL Australia will maintain
exclusive rights to offer AOL (AOL) and Compuserve services
in Australia and now utilize AAPT’s telecommunications
infrastructure.

The announcement comes more than a week after AAPT
announced it was in discussions with AOL. That
announcement quickly pushed AAPT’s stock price up from
below $9 to a high of $11.15 last week. AAPT stock had
eased back below $10 at close on Wednesday but should
jump around until details of the joint venture are
disclosed at a briefing in Sydney at 1300 (AET)
Thursday.

As part of the joint venture, AOL Australia will
also launch a new wireless Internet portal using AOL’s
wireless technologies to deliver content services to
the wireless market. Among the services will be
consumer content for AAPT’s CDMA cellular network.

“The joint venture will provide AAPT with a
tremendous opportunity to develop new and substantial
consumer markets and revenue by cross-selling and
packaging AAPT retail products and services, such as
CDMA and wireless Internet, to our combined customer
base,” said AAPT CEO Larry Williams in a release to
the Australian Stock
Exchange (ASX).

Carol Veriga is stepping down from the position of
AOL Australia managing director. Brett Wayn, currently
director of AOL Australia content and programming will
take over the day to day running joint venture as
general manager.