Diversification of telecommunications infrastructure in Bulgaria
Source：Taiwan Trade Center, Sofia
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Sofia
Update Time：2023/06/12
The United Group, which owns the Vivacom telecommunications company, has announced that it is selling its physical telecommunications infrastructure in Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia to TAWAL – subdivision of the Saudi STC Group. As part of the deal STC will become the owner of more than 4,800 communication towers in the three countries, for the price of 1,22 billion €. This is the first European investment of TAWAL - the largest supplier of STI infrastructure in the Middle East and North Africa with a total of over 16,000 units.
The deal will enable the continuation of mobile network development, including plans to launch around 2,000 additional units over the next 20 years which will allow United Group to continue to offer more products to its customers in the long term, the company claims. At the moment, United Group keeps control over the units in Serbia, Greece, Bosna & Herzegovina and Montenegro. United Group states that it will continue its mergers and acquisitions and will pursue further opportunities for enlargement in the EU markets.
The global trend is for the telecoms to separate the physical infrastructure and customer lines into separate businesses due to the specifics of each one. Similar procedures could happen in Bulgaria. Vіvacom, however, is the first to sell this part of its business to an external company. About the possibility of this deal there have been rumors as dating far back as November 2022. It has been revealed that the investment bank Goldman Sachs was hired to find the buyers for the assets. This will happen against the background of rising process of the United Group’s shares, amidst high inflation and higher interest rates.
The executive director of a STC Group stated that the deal reaffirms the commitment for investment in best-in-class technologies and infrastructure in order to inspire the world.