Vodafone completes Wayfinder acquisition

January 30, 2017

Vodafone has announced the acquisition of Swedish sat nav company, Wayfinder Systems.

Vodafone’s 239 million kronor cash offer has been accepted by Wayfinder shareholders.

The deal – first proposed by Vodafone in December – sees the mobile operator acquire over 98% of Wayfinder shares.

Vodafone’s director of internet services, Pieter Knook, said the acquisition will enable Vodafone to provide LBS technology on customer handsets.

The deal will officially complete today.

GPS services are mobile operators’ latest hope of revenue generation, following the failure to make significant money from music, mobile TV, films, and games.

Although basic route planning is difficult to sell with Google Maps providing a free service, other Wayfinder tools could generate cash, including turn by turn directions, a database of three million points of interest, and online collaboration tools to share routes with friends and family.