Business in Romania blog: Doing business in Romania and business issues

The business in Romania blog writes about the Romanian business landscape, doing business in Romania, investing in Romania business and debating on business issues in Romania. Check this Blog's Policy here.

Sitemap | Feedback | Doing Business in Romania report | Opening a Business in Romania | RSS for this Blog

Friday, January 28, 2005

Telekom Austria could take over Mobifon

Communications group, Telekom Austria, intends to expand in the Balkans and targets the Romanian mobile telephone operator Mobifon, Boris Nemsic, executive director of the Mobilkom Austria division, said in an interview with the Austrian magazine News.

According to News, several sources have stated that the British group Vodafone, currently a Mobifon shareholder, could cede Telekom Austria its option to take over the Romanian operator for approximately 3 billion euros.

At the end of 2004, Telekom Austria signed an agreement with the Bulgarian authorities to buy the operator Mobiltel for 1.6 billion euros.

Telekom also wants to expand into Serbia and Bosnia in 2005, and subsequently into Macedonia and Montenegro.

News said the next phases of the Austrian group's expansion include Kosovo and also Slovakia, where Telekom Austria is preparing to take an Orange division for almost 1.2 billion euros by 2006.

Other markets targeted by Telekom Austria are the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, but Nemsic said that these are long-term goals.

Mobifon is a branch of Telesystem International Wireless (TIW), a Canadian mobile telephone company which operates in Central and Eastern Europe. Its main shareholder is the Dutch company Mobifon Holdings BV, with a 63.45% participation in Mobifon's equity.
Other important shareholders are two other Dutch companies: Vodafone Europe BV, owning 20.15 of the shares and Deraso Holding BV, with a 14.4% participation.

Posted by Iulia Rasoiu : 1/28/2005 11:23:00 am