UK extends security inquiry into Truphone sale

The UK government has again leveraged recently passed national security laws to delay further the proposed sale of beleaguered UK tech company Truphone – which specializes in eSIMs – to German billionaire Hakan Koc and his business associate Pyrros Koussios.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has asked for 45 more working days to scrutinize the purchase of Truphone, which has awkward ownership ties with Roman Abramovich, a sanctioned Russian oligarch.

The BEIS department first initiated its Truphone investigation in July, shortly after Koc and Koussios made a nominal £1 bid for the business.

According to Sky News, citing unnamed sources, the inquiry extension does not necessarily mean the government will block the deal, while "one executive close to the process" was apparently confident that the transaction could be wrapped up by the end of this month.

Worrying BT links

One security concern getting the UK government hot under the collar, as reported by Sky News in July, seems to be a contract Truphone has with BT that allows users to access their digital SIM card remotely. This process requires access to BT data.

Koc and Koussios said at the time, however, they were willing to ditch the BT contract to see through the Truphone acquisition but that wasn't enough to stop the UK government investigating the deal further and assessing the risk, if any, to national security.

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Koc and Koussios say they want to turn Truphone into a UK-based global technology champion, and are clearly frustrated by the delay in getting their hands on the business

Their lawyers, back in July, wrote to the government's Investment Security Unit telling it that the delay could make it more likely that Truphone goes bust, leading to hundreds of redundancies.

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— Ken Wieland, contributing editor, special to Light Reading