A1 Bulgaria EAD (Bulgaria)

Mobiltel is a private company established to build and operate the first GSM cellular mobile network on the territory of Bulgaria. The company offers mobile, Internet, digital TV and home phone services. It has more than 4 million subscribers and operates a network of over 200 sales and service points.
In May 2004, three of Mobiltel's four Austrian investors sold a 40% stake to a private equity consortium led by ABN AMRO Capital, Citigroup Investments and Communications Venture Partners. Then Mobiltel chairman Herbert Cordt and the two other Austrians, who retained a 60% in the operator, set up bidding arm BidCo AD with the private equity consortium to acquire Mobiltel in a deal that estimated the mobile operator's price at EUR 1.2 billion. In end-January 2005, Mobiltel was awarded a 20-year, fixed-line telecom licence. In March 2005, Mobiltel won a licence to operate a third-generation (3G) network winning a tender with a bid of BGN 78 million.
In December 2009, Mobiltel acquired 20 stores from the telecommunication retailer Mobil World and the trade mark MWorld. The units account for about 1/3 of the chain of Mobil World, which was exclusive partner of Mobiltel in the country. In September 2010, Mobiltel signed a preliminary agreement for the acquisition of two local cable operators – Megalan Network and Spectrum Net for EUR 72 million. In 2012 the deal was completed and the two entities merged into Mobiltel.