O2 finance boss left in the dark over 4G auction
THERE were billions of pounds at stake as O2 went up against Vodafone and EE in the recent auction of the 4G mobile spectrum. Therefore one would expect that O2’s chief financial officer would be keeping a keen eye on the purse strings during the proceedings.
However, as the company’s management spent a tense January strategising over the auction, the operator’s CFO Mark Evans was left out of the process.
The Capitalist hears that Evans was prevented from weighing in on O2’s bidding due to the 10 years he spent in his previous position at Vodafone.
Due to his unique insight into the rival’s thinking, both companies agreed to leave Evans out of the process.
This meant that despite being the CFO, Evans was unaware of how much O2 had committed to spend until the results of the auction were announced last week.
Evans’ absence certainly didn’t hamper O2’s efforts in the auction however, with the company splashing out £550m on a slice of top quality 4G spectrum.