TeliaSonera has paid US$160m to increase its stake in TeliaSonera Asia Holding B.V., a holding company with majority stakes Cambodian and Nepalese mobile operators.
TeliaSonera has raised its stake in the holding company from 51% to 75.45%. The holding…
TeliaSonera has paid US$160m to increase its stake in TeliaSonera Asia Holding B.V., a holding company with majority stakes Cambodian and Nepalese mobile operators.
TeliaSonera has raised its stake in the holding company from 51% to 75.45%. The holding company owns 80% of Ncell in Nepal and 100% of Cambodia’s Applifone, which operates as Star-Cell.
TeliaSonera’s indirect ownership of Ncell rises to 60.4%, and it retains the option to increase that stake to 72.9%.
TeliaSonera also announced today that Applifone will combine operations with domestic competitor Latelz Co, with the new operator being called Smart Mobile. This still requires approval from the Cambodian authorities.
TeliaSonera’s head of business area Eurasia, Tero Kivisaari, said that the Cambodian mobile market had seen fierce competition and that “consolidation was inevitable”.
He also said that Nepal was a growing market which TeliaSonera wanted to exploit. “With a young and large population, relatively low mobile penetration and expanding economy, Nepal continues to provide a valuable opportunity for growth for TeliaSonera.”
Cambodia has a crowded mobile market with nine mobile operators (eight after this merger), including leading operator MobiTel.
In Nepal, Ncell’s principal competitor is Nepal Telecom (NT).
