Tele Danmark A/S announced the takeover of Millicom East Holding B.V., a Dutch holding company owning shares in the two Lithuanian cellular companies Bite GSM and Comliet. After the transaction, Tele Danmark will control 71.6 percent of Bite and 49 percent of Comliet. In addition to the Lithuanian properties, Millicom also sold its 13-percent interest in Bharti Cellular Ltd. in India to British Telecommunications plc.
Bell Canada International Inc. closed a transaction selling its 65-percent fully diluted interest in Occidente y Caribe Celular S.A. (Occel), a cellular operator in Colombia’s western region, to its Colombian subsidiary Communicacion Celular S.A. (Comcel), which operates in the more populous eastern region, including Bogota. The sale price was US$355 million, including cash and warrants to purchase shares of Comcel.
Italy’s Olivetti S.p.A. and Mannesmann A.G. of Germany have agreed to acquire Cellular Communications International Inc., United States, giving them an increased stake in Italian mobile operator Omnitel-Pronto Italia S.p.A. Cellular Communications’ primary asset is a nearly 15-percent interest in Omnitel Sistemi Radiocellulari Italiani S.p.A., which is a strategic joint venture that holds a 70-percent interest in Omnitel. Through that venture, Cellular Communications’ indirect stake in Omnitel is about 10.3 percent. The deal will increase the pair’s joint stake in Omnitel to 46.9 percent.
Norway’s Telenor A.S. will purchase a strategic ownership interest in Russian cellular carrier Vimpel Communications, the companies announced in December. According to the agreement, Telenor will acquire 25 percent plus one share of VimpelCom’s total voting stock for a cash payment of about US$160 million.
BellSouth Corp. and Safra Bank each increased its ownership in BCP Telecomunicoes, the cellular operator in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, to 44.5 percent.
France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom now each own 2 percent of each other’s share capital following completion of purchase agreements for cross shareholding.
Misrfone, the second cellular operator in Egypt, launched service 30 November. Diax A.G., the second wireless competitor in Switzerland, launched service 24 December. GSM operators Dutchtone and Ben Nederland are scheduled to launch service in January and February, respectively. KPN Orange Belgium, the third GSM operator in Belgium, is scheduled to launch service in early April.
