and Digicel Pacific takeover Firstly, Telecommunications in New Zealand Vodafone owns 41% Telecom NZ (renamed as Spark in 2014) owns 32% Two Degrees owns 21% Two Degrees is owned by Seattle Baseball owner John Stanton (Trilogy). Since 2007 PNG's major carrier has been Digicel (based in Jamaica). Also in Vanuatu, Tonga and Samoa, and Fiji (with Fiji also having Vodafone as a dominant player) On Monday 25th October 2021 the Australian Govt announced that it is investing $1.8bn in Telstra's takeover of the Pacific arm of Digicel. Telstra said it would contribute $360 million and own 100 per cent of the company's ordinary equity. The deal was completed on 14 July 2022. Click here for ABC announcement. Click here for an earlier report in Australian Financial Review on 14th May 2020, reporting on a "scoping study" of Digicel's assets by China Mobile with a possible take over bid coming. Digicel was said to be on a "credit ventilator" with $US6.7 billion ($10.3 billion) in debt and major repayment deadlines looming over the next 30 months.
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