Bosnia's m:tel plans mobile service in Austria

Mtel ad Banja Luka

08/07/2014 16:55

SARAJEVO, July 8 (Reuters) - Bosnian telecoms firm m:tel 
 TLKM.BJ  plans to expand into Austria with a mobile virtual 
network operator (MVNO), it said on Tuesday, in a move that may 
help ease antitrust concerns after a merger cut the number of 
operators to three from four. 
    Increased competition in the Austrian market is seen as 
having wider importance for the European telecoms industry and 
may signal whether further consolidation will be allowed by 
regulators elsewhere. 
    Hutchison Whampoa's  0013.HK  Drei bought Orange Austria at 
the start of 2013, reducing the number of mobile carriers to 
three from four. 
    As a condition of the takeover, Hutchison had to agree to 
offer access to its network at almost cost price to MVNOs - 
no-frills service providers - who could boost competition again. 
    Until now no new MVNO services have launched on Hutchison's 
network. 
    M:tel, majority-owned by Serbia's Telekom Srbija, will 
target the former Yugoslav diaspora, Austria's second-biggest 
immigrant group. 
    M:tel said it would provide fixed-line service via a 
non-geographic code, as well as voice, text, short message and 
data service and  multi-media content from ex-Yugoslavia, such 
as live TV and web-based streaming. 
    A spokeswoman for the company declined to say whose network 
m:tel would use in Austria. 
    Austria's three mobile network operators - Telekom Austria 
 TELA.VI , Deutsche Telekom's  DTEGn.DE  T-Mobile and Drei - 
declined immediate comment.  
    Austria's telecoms regulator said in June the country may 
see new mobile telecoms operators entering the market in the 
fourth quarter of 2014.  ID:nL5N0OU1KP  
    M:tel shares on the Banja Luka Stock Exchange (BLSE) traded 
flat at 1.55 Bosnian marka ($1.07) on Tuesday. It's 
first-quarter profit fell 18 percent to 20.55 million marka due 
to the poor payment of bills in the fixed-line telephony sector. 
 ID:nL6N0NM4SJ  
 ($1 = 0.7331 Euros) 
 ($1 = 1.438 Bosnian marka) 
 
 (Reporting by Maja Zuvela; Additional reporting by Georgina 
Prodhan in Vienna; Editing by Louise Heavens) 
 ((maja.zuvela@thomsonreuters.com)(+387 33 295 485)(Reuters 
Messaging: maja.zuvela.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: BOSNIA M:TEL/AUSTRIA