Swisscom ups stake in Germany's debitel
Switzerland's largest telecommunications operator, Swisscom, has increased its stake in the German mobile company, debitel, to 94 per cent. It has bought the 10 per cent holding of the Metro concern for SFr460 million ($259 million).
A statement on Thursday said the deal was a purely financial transaction and was the fulfilment of the original option agreement made when Swisscom bought a majority stake in debitel in 1999.
It added that the close cooperation between debitel and Metro would not be affected by the move.
Germany's debitel which is the largest network-independent service provider in Europe, is strategically important for Swisscom. It brings in about one third of the revenues of the Swisscom group and has a European customer base of 9.3 million.
In 1999, debitel achieved revenues of SFr3.993 million.
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