Turk Telecom is acquiring two Bulgarian companies being sold by the Greek operator OTE...
Turk Telekom is acquiring two Bulgarian companies being sold by the Greek operator OTE. The Turkish operator, which uses the Avea brand, will acquire all shares in operator Cosmo Mobile and electronic appliance firm Germanos Telecom Bulgaria.
Cosmo Mobile, branded Globul, is the number two player in Bulgaria with around 4.6 million connections. It tails market leader M-Tel by around 1 million connections, but has a significant lead over number three Vivacom, which has around 2.3 million subscribers.
The sale of the assets was prompted by OTE’s need to reduce its debts. Turk Telekom’s binding bids can be seen as affirmation of the operator’s plans for expanding within the region.
In November last year, Turk Telekom placed non-binding bids on both firms. It reportedly had competition in the form of Turkish number one Turkcell, which expressed an interest in buying Globul.
Turk Telekom is the number three player in Turkey, with 13.7 million subscribers, tailing Turkcell and Vodafone, which respectively have 35.2 million and 19.1 million.
