April/May 2007

Network operator O2 has sold its Airwave TETRA-based communications network to the Australian-based Macquarie group for £1.9 billion.

It is understood that the existing management team, led by chairman Peter Richardson and chief executive Richard Bobbett, will remain in place, and Macquarie has given its commitment that it will retain ownership of the company for a minimum of ten years.

O2 is nowadays owned by Spanish-based Telefonica, which appears to be cashing in on Airwave's recent successes (it is supplying communications infrastructure for English and Welsh ambulance services and London Underground), and may also want to focus more sharply on its core mobile networks. Airwave has historically concentrated on major projects for large organisations, using a bespoke network.

Technically the buyer is Guardian Digital Communications, a new company wholly owned by two Macquarie-managed funds, Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group and Macquarie European Investment Fund II.