Telekom Austria has bought Bulgaria's dominant mobile phone operator Mobiltel for up to 1.6 billion euros ($1.95 billion), the largest ever take-over by an Austrian firm, it said on Thursday. The deal provides room for Austria's main fixed-line, mobile and Internet provider to expand further from its main market in central Europe, and gives it access to 8 million Bulgarians who are hoping to join the European Union in 2007.
"The company is Bulgaria's success story. It is the undisputed market leader, and we intend to keep it that way," Josef Vinatzer, Mobiltel's new CEO, told a news conference.
"We are going to build on the brand, offer competitive pricing, and come up with new services and products."
Telekom Austria plans to integrate the whole of Mobiltel into its mobile arm, mobilkom, and said it would consolidate the Bulgarian firm in its results from July 12.
Mobiltel had 3.23 million subscribers - more than Bulgaria's total of fixed-line customers - at the end of June, and market share of around 65 percent.
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