"We are naturally excited at expanding our footprint and adding this new company to the Telenor Group. Serbia has long been an interesting market for us," said Telenor CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas.
Telenor won Mobi 63 with a bid of 1.513 billion euros. This is the largest single investment in Serbia. Telenor's acquisition was received in a positive way. “The news that Mobi 63 has been sold for more than 1.5 billion euros will be heard around the world and this good news speaks best to foreign investors that the Serbian market and the Serbian economy are the right place for investments. I congratulate the Norwegian Telenor company and I welcome them to Serbia”, Serbian Prime Minister Kostunica stated for B92.
Telenor www.telenor.no is Norway's largest telecommunications company and one of the fastest growing providers of mobile communications services worldwide. The company recently celebrated its 100 millionth subscriber. Telenor is also the largest provider of TV services in the Nordic region. In 2005, 57% of the group's revenues were derived from the mobile operations. Telenor has mobile operations in some of the world's fastest growing markets, and the home market, Norway, is one of the most advanced in the world today. In the region Telenor already owns Hungarian operator Pannon and Montenegrin Pro Monte.
Mobi 63, now Telenor Serbia, has a registered customer base of 2.5 million subscribers and 65% of the market. The company has 950 employees. Telenor fought off bids from Mobilkom Austria and Egypt's Orascom Telecom. Seven other companies, including France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, had been eliminated earlier in the process.
For more inforrmation on Telenor Serbia please visit http://www.telenor.co.yu