BRUSSELS-With a bid of $2.5 billion, Ameritech Corp. and partners Tele Danmark and Singapore Telecom last month captured the winning vote for a 50 percent-less one share-stake and strategic position in Belgium’s state-owned telecommunications operator Belgacom S.A.
Ameritech said it perceives great opportunity in Belgacom, as Belgium is home to the European Commission and a major base of European and multinational corporations. “Belgium stands at the heart of Europe,” stated Ameritech.
Belgacom’s 75 percent owned cellular subsidiary, Belgacom Mobile, operates both analog and digital Global System for Mobile communications networks in Belgium and has one GSM competitor. AirTouch Communications Inc. of San Francisco owns the remaining Belgacom Mobile shares. Ameritech didn’t specify what, if any, direct role it would play in Belgacom Mobile.
Belgacom issued a tender early last year for a strategic partner and by summer narrowed the selection to a handful of entrants, including Ameritech, explained Manuel Galvan, spokesperson for Ameritech International. These companies were asked to submit more detailed plans in a final round. That is when Tele Danmark and Singapore Telecom joined Ameritech.
Final bids and plans were due Dec. 8, and the consortium learned in less than a week it had been chosen. “It was an extremely quick turnaround,” noted Galvan.
Belgacom wants to get an early start on privatization, said Galvan. Members of the European Union are required to open their telecom markets to competition by 1998, and perhaps sooner.n
