Telekom Austria buys Macedonian cable operator Blizoo

Telekom Austria Group has bought 100% of Blizoo Macedonia, one of the largest cable providers in Macedonia that offers TV, broadband and fixed voice services. 

Announcing the deal, Telekom Austria said that the deal represents a “significant step in fulfilling the group’s convergence strategy” and complemented its “convergent footprint” in Austria, Bulgaria and Croatia.

With the takeover, Blizoo will offer bundled fixed and mobile services with Vip Operator – the Telekom Austria-owned Macedonian mobile network operator.

“The takeover of Blizoo Macedonia allows us to offer the full scale of communications services in the fourth country within our group and is a step forward in the execution of our successful convergence strategy,” said Telekom Austria Group and A1 CEO, Hannes Ametsreiter.

Vip Operator CEO, Nikola Ljushev, said: “This move opens a broad range of exciting opportunities to Vip operator, the second largest mobile operator in the Republic of Macedonia, by bringing together complementary assets and capabilities for future success.”

Blizoo Macedonia currently claims 63,000 subscribers, of which 47,000 are broadband subscribers. In 2013 revenues amounted to some €10 million.

“It is great that we are becoming part of Telekom Austria Group as we know this will make us stronger and will ensure sustainable value growth for our shareholders. We are looking forward to sharing experiences and working together with Telekom Austria Group, in particular with Vip operator, in order to provide advanced products and services to our customers,” said Kiril Trendafilov, CEO of Blizoo Macedonia.

The deal is subject to merger control clearance and the price was not disclosed.