TIW may be interested in Cosmorom

Canada’s Telesystem International Wireless (TIW) offered this July to merge its mobile units in Eastern Europe with the Balkan mobile operations of Greek telecoms operator OTE, said the Greek newspaper Kathimerini. TIW, which owns the Romanian mobile operator MobiFon SA (Connex) and the Czech mobile firm Cesky Mobil, proposed the setting up of a joint venture with OTE to incorporate the merged mobile units of both firms in the Balkans. TIW officials are yet to comment on the proposal. According to Connex, however, “MobiFon has no information of such talks taking place with TIW and OTE.” OTE has in recent years expanded into the Balkans and neighbouring countries to offset competition at home. This venture met with mixed results and the company is now trying to withdraw from unprofitable markets. MobiFon, the largest wireless operator in Romania, has three other competitors in Romania, of which one is Cosmorom, which is owned by landline telephone operator RomTelecom, which in turn is controlled by OTE. ZF