Today’s Newspaper Cuttings
19 February 2016
Today’s online news Timesofmalta.com Vodafone to pay Liberty €1 billion in Dutch deal – Vodafone Indirect
Independent.com.mt GO Employee of the Year announced – GO Direct The latest TV comes to Go Stars HD – GO Direct
Josannecassar.com The latest TV comes to Go Stars HD – GO Direct GO Employee of the Year announced – GO Direct
Maltatoday.com.mt Consumers’ Association says GO’s discriminatory €2 fee on bills must be removed – GO Anti
Vodafone in the news
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Vodafone Indirect timesofmalta.com 17 February 2016 €
Wednesday, February 17, 2016, 06:01 by Toby Sterling, Reuters
Vodafone to pay Liberty €1 billion in Dutch deal
Branding for Vodafone on the exterior of a shop in London. Photo: Toby Melville/Reuters UK mobile phone operator Vodafone Plc and John Malone’s cable company Liberty Global Plc agreed to combine their operations in the Netherlands in a bid to gain a stronger presence in the local market. Vodafone will pay €1 billion cash to Liberty to equalise their stakes in the venture, which will rank as the second-largest telecoms company in the Netherlands after former incumbent KPN. It will also create a stronger competitor to smaller players Tele2 and Deutsche Telekom unit T-Mobile. US-based Liberty’s Ziggo is by far the largest cable TV operator in the Netherlands, while Vodafone is the second-biggest mobile network operator behind KPN. Vodafone has faced increasing pressure in national markets from former telecoms network monopolies such as Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, KPN and BT, which are able to sell packages of broadband internet, TV and mobile telecoms services. In the Netherlands, Tele2 is attempting to scale up its operations while Deutsche Telekom has been attempting to sell T-Mobile to private equity investors and exit the market. Earlier this month, Vodafone said it was in talks with Liberty about the joint venture in the Netherlands, after the companies could not agree on a larger tie-up or exchange of assets last year, a deal that could have covered as many as seven European markets. The Dutch joint entity would have had 2015 sales of €4.41 billion and operating profit of roughly €1.9 billion, the companies said. The companies said they would see savings of €280 million per year from the fifth year after the closing of the deal, which they expect towards the end of 2016.
Other stories in the news
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GO Direct independent.com.mt 17 February 2016 € 145
The latest TV comes to GO Stars HD Wednesday, 17 February 2016, 21:12
New Seasons of some of the world's most talked about TV drama will launch on GO Stars HD this winter. Among these will be the second season of Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad prequel, which premieres on 21 February, and the much anticipated fourth season of House of Cards, which viewers will have the opportunity to watch over two marathon evenings on 5 March and 7 March. The second season of the much acclaimed period drama, Outlander, will follow. All of these series will be broadcast within hours of their original airing in the United States. February will also see a host of movie premieres on GO Stars HD including John Wick, Into the Woods, Tomorrowland, Get Hard and Fifty Shades of Grey.
Kurt Camilleri, Chief Commercial Officer at GO, said, "GO is committed to giving its customers an unmatched TV experience with the latest series and movies, at times within 24 hours of the original broadcast. Moreover thanks to Interactive TV, with Pause, Rewind, Record, Restart and Catch up, GO also gives customers the flexibility to enjoy their favourite TV programme whenever they want." GO Stars HD is available from €6.99 per month. Those who opt to also subscribe to GO Sport Premium when signing up to GO Stars for a two year period, will be able to enjoy both services at a special monthly rate of €20.
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GO Direct independent.com.mt 17 February 2016 € 145
GO ‘Employee of the Year’ announced Wednesday, 17 February 2016, 21:24
Matthew Grech from GO's Fixed Networks Plan & Build section has been named as the Company's 'Employee of the Year' for 2015. During an awards presentation, a number of other GO employees were also rewarded for their significant contribution over the final six months of last year.
GO operates two staff recognition awards. These are the Star Awards and the Gold Awards. The Star Awards give employees the opportunity to nominate colleagues who they believe delivered an outstanding performance in one, or more, of five categories, namely; Innovation, Customer Service Excellence, Integrity and Trust, Teamwork and Above and Beyond, The Gold Award gives Senior Managers and Chief Officers the opportunity to recognise employees who make an exceptional contribution. Matthew Grech was, in fact, also the winner of the Gold Award for the third quarter of 2015, while Pierre Ferrante from Human Resources won the Award for the final quarter of the year for his work on improving the HR team's IT systems to simplify and facilitate their work.
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GO Direct independent.com.mt 17 February 2016 â‚Ź 145
The Star Award winners for the third quarter of 2015 were; Karl Stevens for Above and Beyond, Ron Bonnici for Customer Service Excellence, Terry Borg for Innovation, Anne Marie Borg for Teamwork and Luke Borg for Integrity and Trust. The winners for the year's final quarter were; Marlon Mercieca for Above and Beyond, Tyrone Mifsud Customer Service Excellence, Maria Cassar for Teamwork and Antonella Lia and Ian Bugeja for Integrity and Trust. GO's Contact Centre Team also won a Team Recognition award following an impressive 95.8 per cent score in a mystery shopping exercise, which highlighted the team's commitment to customer service. Yiannos Michaelides, CEO at GO plc, said, "The Star and Gold Awards give GO employees and the management team an opportunity to reward all those who go the extra mile to help us achieve our goals. Many of our employees are doing some really great work and have been deservedly recognised, none more than Matthew who during the past year brought together his team together with colleagues from across other IT and Engineering sections across GO to successfully deliver a new Voice Over Broad Band infrastructure."
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GO Direct josannecassar.com 17 February 2016 € 116
GO ‘EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR’ ANNOUNCED Pictured above: GO Employee of the Year Matthew Grech (left), receiving the award from GO Chief Technical Officer Joe Attard Matthew Grech from GO‟s Fixed Networks Plan & Build section has been named as the Company‟s „Employee of the Year‟ for 2015. During an awards presentation, a number of other GO employees were also rewarded for their significant contribution over the final six months of last year. GO operates two staff recognition awards. These are the Star Awards and the Gold Awards. The Star Awards give employees the opportunity to nominate colleagues who they believe delivered an outstanding performance in one, or more, of five categories, namely; Innovation, Customer Service Excellence, Integrity and Trust, Teamwork and Above and Beyond, The Gold Award gives Senior Managers and Chief Officers the opportunity to recognise employees who make an exceptional contribution. Matthew Grech was, in fact, also the winner of the Gold Award for the third quarter of 2015, while Pierre Ferrante from Human Resources won the Award for the final quarter of the year for his work on improving the HR team‟s IT systems to simplify and facilitate their work. The Star Award winners for the third quarter of 2015 were; Karl Stevens for Above and Beyond, Ron Bonnici for Customer Service Excellence, Terry Borg for Innovation, Anne Marie Borg for Teamwork and Luke Borg for Integrity and Trust. The winners for the year‟s final quarter were; Marlon Mercieca for Above and Beyond, Tyrone Mifsud Customer Service Excellence, Maria Cassar for Teamwork and Antonella Lia and Ian Bugeja for Integrity and Trust. GO‟s Contact Centre Team also won a Team Recognition award following an impressive 95.8 per cent score in a mystery shopping exercise, which highlighted the team‟s commitment to customer service. Yiannos Michaelides, CEO at GO plc, said, “The Star and Gold Awards give GO employees and the management team an opportunity to reward all those who go the extra mile to help us achieve our goals. Many of our employees are doing some really great work and have been deservedly recognised, none more than Matthew who during the past year brought together his team together with colleagues from across other IT and Engineering sections across GO to successfully deliver a new Voice Over Broad Band infrastructure.”
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GO Direct josannecassar.com 17 February 2016 € 116
THE LATEST TV COMES TO GO STARS HD New Seasons of some of the world’s most talked about TV drama will launch on GO Stars HD this winter. Among these will be the second season of Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad prequel, which premieres on 21 February, and the much anticipated fourth season of House of Cards, which viewers will have the opportunity to watch over two marathon evenings on 5 March and 7 March. The second season of the much acclaimed period drama, Outlander, will follow. All of these series will be broadcast within hours of their original airing in the United States. February will also see a host of movie premieres on GO Stars HD including John Wick, Into the Woods, Tomorrowland, Get Hard and Fifty Shades of Grey. Kurt Camilleri, Chief Commercial Officer at GO, said, “GO is committed to giving its customers an unmatched TV experience with the latest series and movies, at times within 24 hours of the original broadcast. Moreover thanks to Interactive TV, with Pause, Rewind, Record, Restart and Catch up, GO also gives customers the flexibility to enjoy their favourite TV programme whenever they want.” GO Stars HD is available from €6.99 per month. Those who opt to also subscribe to GO Sport Premium when signing up to GO Stars for a two year period, will be able to enjoy both services at a special monthly rate of €20.
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GO Anti maltatoday.com.mt 18 February 2016 € 145
Consumers’ Association says GO’s discriminatory €2 fee on bills must be removed GO plc agrees to remove additional charges in connection with different payment methods but CA flags discrepancy on bills
Matthew Vella 18 February 2016, 7:35am
The Consumers Association has called on the Consumer Authority (MCCAA) and telecoms firm GO to ensure the discontinuation of discriminatory practices of a €2 fee charged on bills received by mail. After complaints led to talks in August 2015 held between GO and the MCCAA, the company agreed to remove all the charges in relation to payment mechanisms, and as from December, all GO customers are no longer paying extra charges even if they opt not to pay their bills via direct debit. On printed bills GO said it would provide “clear and prominent information on such charges in all advertising media and commercial communications, with the exception of those aired on radio considering the limitations thereof.” But the Consumers‟ Association said that the statement, especially the last sentence referring to printed bills sent by post, does not specifically state that there will be no charges for this form of payment. “It only states that info regarding this form of payment will be made public. This statement is very misleading, ambiguous and provides conflicting information. GO customers need clarification, since many are claiming that they are paying an extra €2 for receiving bills by post, since they do not have access to Internet facilities, which leaves them no option but to receive the bill by post,” the CA said. “The recent advertising by GO offering „free‟ electronic services starting on March 2016 is futile for people who are not computer literate or who do not even own a computer. This sector consists, most probably, of the elderly and people who are within the risk of poverty.”
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GO Anti maltatoday.com.mt 18 February 2016 € 145
The CA said it was a shame that the wording in the agreement reached with MCCAA does not take into consideration the limitations of this sector of the Maltese community that use the services of GO, but who have no access to the internet, and therefore are „penalised‟ by having to pay €2. “GO plc are obliged to satisfy their clients with providing a complete service according to individual needs within different sectors of the general public. At this point one might even ask what is GO plc doing to address this issue? This is definitely a case of discrimination,” the CA said.