Central European Telecom Services (CETel), a Germanybased satellite communication services provider, has said it will acquire one of its competitors, SeaMobile Europe.
The transaction, scheduled to close in March 2011, is expected to allow CETel to…
Central European Telecom Services (CETel), a Germanybased satellite communication services provider, has said it will acquire one of its competitors, SeaMobile Europe.
The transaction, scheduled to close in March 2011, is expected to allow CETel to expand its service portfolio and customer base in Africa and the Middle East with a focus on the mobile and maritime business.
“With the combined expertise of our two organizations, we expect to deliver significant advances to our customers and the global communications marketplace. In addition, the forthcoming acquisition of SeaMobile Europe and migration of its services with about 1.000 contracted customers into more than 50 countries in Africa, Europe and the Middle East will allow CETel to strengthen its position as a global player in the satellite communications market,” said Guido Neumann, managing director and co-founder of CETel, in a statement.
The company said that, following the acquisition, its services portfolio will include network design and VSAT operation in the oil, gas & mining industry; maritime satellite services; mobile application services with Inmarsat and Iridium; and advanced TDMA solutions.
SeaMobile Europe is part of SeaMobile Inc and its partners include Iridium and Inmarsat. In 2006, it acquired Maritime Telecommunications Network (MTN), which last year was among the bidders competing to buy oilfield services giant Schlumberger’s Global Connectivity Services (GCS) business.
The battle was ultimately won by global communication group Harris Corp.
In 2007, SeaMobile also bought Geolink, which delivers communication services to remote locations, mainly in Europe and Africa.
“With CETel, we found the right partner with existing teleport infrastructure in Europe to take over our European operations, which will allow SeaMobile Europe to expand and to improve their services with a great benefit for their existing and future customers worldwide,” said Bradford C. Briggs, senior vice president of MTN and president of SeaMobile Europe. “At the same time, SeaMobile Inc. and MTN can further concentrate on their core markets and services within the global maritime communications area.” When contacted, CETel declined to comment further on the deal.
