The Commission on Protection of Competition (CPC) has approved Bulgarian telco Mobiltel’s (M-Tel’s) takeover of cable operator Blizoo (formerly Cable Tel-Eurocom) with Decision No. 762, dated 17 September 2015. The deal will create the largest fixed broadband operator in the country, with close to 500,000 subscribers on its books. The two companies are now expected to merge their operations by year-end.
Blizoo offers digital/analogue cable TV, high speed internet access and voice telephony, and operates its own 2,000 km national fibre-optic backbone while using HFC technology, including DOCSIS 2.0 and DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades, to connect to customers’ premises.
M-Tel – a subsidiary of Telekom Austria Group – agreed to acquire 100% of the Bulgarian cableco from Sweden-based investment fund EQT, for an undisclosed price. Previously, EQT hired Jefferies and UniCredit as financial advisers for the potential sale of Blizoo in September 2013, but called off the sale in November 2013, with ‘limited interest and major differences in price expectations’ cited as the main reasons for the failed divestment.