TIRANA (Albania), October 29 (SeeNews) – Telecommunication services provider Vodafone Albania said it has agreed to acquire the country’s largest cable operator AbCom.
“This transaction is part of Vodafone Group’s wider strategy to enhance its mobile businesses with broadband and pay-TV services,” Vodafone said in a press release late on Monday.
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The acquisition will enable Vodafone Albania to become a full service telecoms company by offering fixed and mobile communications and TV services to households and businesses, the company said, adding that the transaction will be subject to customary regulatory clearances.
After the transaction is completed, Vodafone Albania said it intends to pursue a new strategic investment plan for AbCom.
“Vodafone Albania expects to launch a new suite of converged products and services, giving Albanian consumers a complete package of the most advanced broadband and pay-TV offerings on the market alongside Vodafone’s high-quality mobile service,” the company noted.
“The integration of AbCom will strengthen Vodafone Albania and enable us to offer consumers and businesses a full range of enhanced services including broadband, pay-TV and mobile to drive the development of Albania’s digital society,” Vodafone Albania's chief executive officer, Achilleas Kanaris, said.
AbCom is the largest cable operator in Albania, as its network covers around 460,000 homes across the country. The company currently provides broadband and pay-TV services to more than 100,000 Albanian homes.
There were 2.57 million active mobile telephony users in Albania at the end of the first quarter of 2019, down 5.9% year-on-year, according to data published by the country's electronic and postal communications authority, AKEP, earlier this month. Vodafone Albania was market leader with 1.20 million active mobile users, followed by Telekom Albania with 834,493 and Albtelecom with 422,224.