July 13 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian mobile and broadband services provider Vivacom said it completed the acquisition of 100% of the share capital of Telnet, a provider of TV and broadband services in northern Bulgaria.
The deal, which the Bulgarian competition regulator cleared earlier this month after an in-depth enquiry, is an important step in the growth strategy of Vivacom, it said in a press release on Wednesday.
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The approval of the deal prompted rivals A1 Bulgaria and Yettel Bulgaria to express concerns over the perceived risks for Vivacom to potentially gain a dominant market position.
Based in Veliko Tarnovo, Telnet was established in 2005 as a result of the merger of the Internet-related operations of the two largest ISPs in the Veliko Tarnovo region - Magi and Go-Link. The company is active in the construction, maintenance and development of new generation data transmission networks, its website shows.
Telnet operates in over 110 locations in the regions of Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo and Ruse, providing services to both residential and business clients, according to Vivacom's statement.
Vivacom, which used to be known as Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC) and is part of Southeast Europe-focused media and telecoms business United Group, agreed to acquire Telnet for an undisclosed amount in 2021.
In 2022, Vivacom retained its 31.4% share of subscribers in the market for the provision of retail fixed Internet access, A1 Bulgaria's share edged up to 27.8% and Bulsatcom's share declined to 6.2%, as shown by a recent report by the country's Communications Regulation Commission (CRC). According to the report, Vivacom unseated Bulsatcom, the market leader in the provision of paid TV access, growing its share of the subscriber market by 2.7 percentage points (pp) and its revenue share by 3.3 pp, to 32.9% and 27.6% respectively. This corresponded to 26.7% of paid TV subscribers and 29.3% of revenue for Bulsatcom, with A1 Bulgaria being the third largest provider.