Danish telecoms operator Tele Danmark, (TLD.CO) is considering entering the upcoming tender for the privatisation of Slovak Telecom later this year, Torben Holm, Tele Danmark International senior vice president, said in an interview.
The company will also try to strenghten its holdings in emerging Europe by competing for a GSM 1800 mobile licence in the Czech Republic, the senior executive said on Tuesday.
Tele Danmark is already active in Polish mobile operator Polkomtel and sees synergies in a possible acquisition of the Slovak fixed line monopoly Slovak Telecom, whose privatisation is planned for later this year.
"At the moment, it's an issue we're considering. We would have an advantage for example if you consider the connection between the countries," Holm said.
Holm said Tele Danmark is weighing whether to enter the Slovak tender alone or set up a consortium with other partners.
The Slovak government plans to open the tender for a strategic investor for Slovak Telecom in June, but final conditions of the sale are still pending. One of the possibilities mentioned prominently by Slovak officials is privatising the company through an equity expansion so the state stake drops to 34%.
The Czech government is expected to open bidding for a GSM 1800 licence within weeks, but some Czech state regulators have said they would like to prevent parent companies of the current two mobile telephone operators from competing for the new network.
Tele Danmark holds 21 percent of Czech radio transmission firm Ceske Radiokomunikace , which holds a majority of RadioMobil, the second largest Czech mobile phone operator.
Nearly 40 percent from Tele Danmark's consolidated revenues are already generated outside Denmark.
Author: Radek Narovec
