Telecoms company, Altice, has outwitted the government and secured a majority shareholding in SIRESP, the vital emergency communications system that failed so badly during last year’s fires. Altice is owned by the billionaire, Patrick Drahi, who has French, Israeli and Portuguese passports.
The Netherlands-based company, that ultimately owns Portugal’s MEO, exercised its preemptive rights through Altice Portugal and snapped up the shares in SIRESP that were held by ESEGUR and Datacomp.
Despite pledging to take SIRESP into State control, the government now only holds 33% of the shares, those that were held by the now defunct company, Galilei, leaving it in weak position as Altice Portugal now controls SIRESP, the Integrated System of Emergency and Security Networks of Portugal, and will control capital investment, technology, network coverage and management.
Following the devastating fires in 2017, Pedro Marques, the Minister of Planning and Infrastructures, said the State would be taking control of SIRESP as one of a series of measures designed to show the nation that it was going to be taking fires very seriously indeed.
On October 23, 2017, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Eduardo Cabrita, announced that the State would assume 54% of the capital of SIRESP.
The government has taken over Galilei’s shareholding but has stopped there, despite full expectations that it would continue buying shares from the current partners until it has over 50% and could control investment and strategy.
Altice Portugal said today that nothing is stopping the State buying more shares and Altice guarantees that "it will maintain a position of total balance and cooperation with the Portuguese State, as it has been doing proactively in the design of solutions together in the past year."
ESEGUR and Datacom held 21.55% of SIRESP and decided in July to sell out. Altice was able to exercise a preemptive right and bought the shareholding, leaving the government’s policy in tatters, despite placatory press releases assuring everyone that all is well.
Altice Portugal now owns 52.1%, the State 33% and the remaining SIRESP shareholding of 14.9%, remains in the hands of Motorola.
The president of the Portuguese Fire Brigade, Jaime Mota Soares, said it is bad news that the government has not gained control of SIRESP.
"I have some concern because we preferred, this being such an important system, that SIRESP was under the full management and ownership of the State,” said Soares.
According to the company "Altice Portugal is the only operator in the country with the capacity to design this type of system, for technological and operational reasons, to full adherence with the quality of service provided."
