Freedom4 Comm. Share Discussion Threads

[troys] 16/5/2008 17:41

Until this gets back to 8p I remain shafted

[joesmoke] 16/5/2008 16:25

some things never change.....hello to all previous Pipex optimists....

[ps0u3165] 16/5/2008 16:02

The mileage was there this morning if you bought yesterday and sold before 0900hrs this morning. Maybe a long time before we see them dizzy heights again.

[jasey] 16/5/2008 12:39

Slightlycynical

You sound all optimistic like we all did 2 years ago, let's hope it's not history repeating. Seriously though I think there is a bit of mileage still in this, let's hope. I'm certainly gonna jump ship with a reasonable gain this time. One thing I've learnt on the Pipex rollercoaster is that timing is everything and I should've trusted my instincts. Will this time!

Jasey (optimism chewed up and spat out by Dubens IMHO).

[slightlycynical] 16/5/2008 11:36

I can certainly empathise as I've been in that situation before.

However coming at this from an outside view, it seems to me that it's a bit of a bargain at the moment, despite the shareholders having been done over in the past.

[ps0u3165] 16/5/2008 11:06

869
Its not FORMER shareholders, most still hold 42% of original stake some are lucky enough to only hold 15% at much higher averages than today's share price

[slightlycynical] 16/5/2008 10:44

C2B - sorry, I haven't done a full analysis on this. Just dipped my toe as at first sight it seems less than the sum of its parts. Clearly a lot of disgruntled former shareholders though, so I guess a lot of selling pressure despite this.

[c2b] 16/5/2008 10:04

Thank you slightlycynical very useful.

So do you have a feel for what the value of the cash and the embryonic business is per share ?

[zimbi] 16/5/2008 08:53

keep people waiting for 18 months, die of boredom, less to pay out........

[slightlycynical] 16/5/2008 08:53

WiMAX is a bit better for "fixed wireless" applications like the symmettric business-to-business services being launched with councils etc.

It's probably not much better than 3G for PC-modem type services, although potentially it could be faster, or be offered with different business models like ad-hoc usage rather than subscription

Also, there's a more capacity at 3.6GHz, although it's not as good at going through walls.

Swings and roundabouts really, but should be some slightly better/different WiMAX services to 3G, although it won't be useful for other things like phones.

[ps0u3165] 16/5/2008 08:47

Troys 860-Was thinking the same, also are we to be paid on the amount of shares tendered or the amount remaining. I suspect its the latter as this will keep us holding on here and generate more interest from PI's in f4. No doubt we will be made to wait the full 18 months imho.

[c2b] 16/5/2008 08:47

Basic Point .. Sorry but why is WiMax better than a 3G Data Card such as I have from Vodafone and which will work around the world, and in a very slow fashion on 2G where 3G is not available ?

[spights] 16/5/2008 08:37

Yes we were ripped off by a con merchant

con merchant

A particularly nasty individual or group/company who/which attempts to get one over on you or dupe you

[slightlycynical] 16/5/2008 08:32

So... it's looking to return £17.5m, plus it's still got some cash, plus it's got 52% of the WiMAX JV. Although the WiMAX service might not turn out to be a world-beater, nonetheless it has a big chunk of OK-ish spectrum which has got to be worth at least £30m+ on its own.

Or am I missing something? I only bought last week, but it seems like there's a lot of resentment from older shareholders about the whole asset-sale & share-tender thing, which I guess will mean selling pressure in spite of the seeming disparity between share price & valuation.

[spights] 16/5/2008 08:29

Wow 20% increase

[troys] 16/5/2008 08:20

Wil we still need to be a shareholder to receive this money?

[spights] 16/5/2008 07:53

Bye Troy:o)
At least we are going to get some money back. Looking at my portfolio I have a loss of 80% on Freedom.They took approx 86% of my shares under the tender.

[troys] 16/5/2008 07:38

See you in 18 months when Dubens finds the keys to the safe.

[vivgav] 16/5/2008 07:12

It is the board's intention to distribute to shareholders the proceeds of the
redemption of the loan notes, due to be repaid
within 18 months.

[troys] 15/5/2008 17:00

Doomed :-)

[troys] 13/5/2008 21:37

Computer technology available for people on benefits
Milton Keynes Council has struck a world exclusive deal with computer giant Microsoft to help people get cheap computers.

Steven Jewell at the council offices with one of the community computersThe main part of the agreement is an innovative development that will enable the council, through ConnectMK Limited (a company created by Milton Keynes council to establish 'Wi-Max' wireless broadband services in Milton Keynes), to refurbish well-specified ex-council PCs and laptops which will then be loaded with the latest Microsoft software.

The agreement will act as a global 'test bed'.

The PCs will be pre-loaded with a Citizens Skills Pack which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, One Note, the MS Live Suite, including a special e-mail account and MS Education, Internet safety and security software/ support as well as the newly launched Microsoft Digital Literacy curriculum.

It is estimated that up to 10,000 residents in Milton Keynes will be able to take advantage of the scheme.

To qualify, a person must be in receipt of a benefit such as income support, income based job seekers allowance, pension credit, child tax credit, working tax credit or housing/council tax benefit. To allow some flexibility, exceptions to this scheme entry requirement may also be granted to people on low incomes.

People will be able to rent the refurbished PCs for a nominal fee of £1.50 per week to assist in their digital inclusion, adult learning and small business programmes.

More than a thousand PCs will be distributed in the first year.

Distribution is through Connect MK, working in partnership with community centres and other organisations to assist in training, support and monitoring.

Steven Jewell, head of IT services at Milton Keynes and the lead organiser of Milton Keynes Digital Challenge bid team said: "The scheme was born out of our efforts to win the Government's Digital Challenge, and although we didn't win, what we found was that by creating a genuine publicprivate partnership with organisations like Microsoft, FREEDOM4 and Adepteq (the scheme's technology consultancy partners), the sheer momentum we had generated meant that no one from any side was willing to just give up and ignore the difficulties that local citizens had with digital exclusion.

"This is a living testament to the good that has come from the Digital Challenge competition and marks a major achievement."

MK Council has set the target of achieving a 90 per cent level of digital inclusion in Milton Keynes in the home by 2010/11.

[troys] 13/5/2008 07:22

Freedom coverage

[veryoldbob] 09/5/2008 18:34

From El Reg today. What does this mean for F4 with it's 3.6GHz license?


WiMAX gets EU harmonisation at 2.6GHz

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has started the approvals process for WiMAX to be officially recognised as a 2.6GHz technology, though Intel's bid for Swedish airwaves provides more substantial evidence of deployment plans.

WiMAX - a technology which cleverly calls itself 4G despite only offering 3G speeds - can be used on a wide variety of frequencies. While historically governments might have sold spectrum on the basis of usage, that's no longer the case. So WiMAX could turn up anywhere.

The WiMAX Forum has been fighting hard to get 2.6GHz approved as an EU-wide standard for WiMAX, and blames the delay on a conspiracy of companies with interests in competing technologies who have managed to present "a handful of [ETSI] members who did not want to see it progressing", as one forum member explained it to Policytracker.

The forum had to fight to get WiMAX approved as a 3G standard at the World Radio Congress (WRC) last year, but the competition hasn't given up. "Having failed in their efforts to stop WiMAX being approved at WRC, the vendors continued to try and put a spanner in the works, albeit a different spanner, at the European level," claimed the same source.

"They have support from a few telcos, such as France Telecom, which have opted for competing technologies and are happy to see WiMAX hindered."

It's no secret that Intel has enormous interest in WiMAX succeeding, which explains why it chucked $1bn into Clearwire, not to mention Intel Capital Corporation sinking €17m into 50MHz of 2.6GHz spectrum in the recent Swedish auctions. The rest of the Swedish auction was all Frequency Division Duplexed, so less useful for WiMAX, and was bought up by local network operators.

In the UK, the 2.6GHz spectrum isn't up for auction until September - that should prove interesting. ®