said it would buy a 51 percent stake in
percent stake in Nepalese operator Spice
and 100 percent of
Applifone.
said it expected to close the deal on Oct. 1.
Executive Lars Nyberg said the purchases were an indication of where the
company’s growth would increasingly come from in the future.
He said
are growing fast and mobile penetration levels low.
see this as a sign of what our priority is when we look beyond the CIS
markets,” Nyberg told a conference call.
who declined to be identified said
acquisition of the two.
big population … low mobile penetration and quite limited competition,” he
said.
competition is fiercer, he added.
Osterberg, analyst at SEB said the price TeliaSonera was paying for the assets
was too high, but Nyberg said the price was fair, given the good growth
opportunities.
shares were down 3 percent at 0950 GMT, against a 2 percent fall in the wider
has expanded rapidly in countries in the former Soviet Union in recent years as
it diversifies away from its mature home markets in
driver. He said the region had EBITDA margins over 50 percent against around 32
percent for the group as a whole.
we should invest in this region,” Nyberg said.
is the fourth-largest mobile operator in
subscribers and an estimated market share of 3 percent. Mobile penetration in
the country is around 21 percent.