Ola sets 3 Aug deadline to select partner

On 3 August Colombian mobile operator Colombia Movil (Ola) will select a strategic partner from three interested parties – Jamaica’s Digicel, Luxembourg-based Millicom International and Chile’s Entel PCS – Reuters reports. Ola’s owners, local municipal telcos ETB and EPM, invited the three companies to participate in the second stage of the process, after rejecting the three non-binding offers received from the same companies in the first stage. ETB and EPM aim to find a partner willing to provide an injection of capital following Ola’s cash depleting 2005 infrastructure expansion. ETB and EPM also seek to relinquish control of Ola to the winning bidder. Ola is the third largest mobile operator in Colombia with 2.3 million subscribers, behind Comcel, the local unit of Mexico’s América Móvil, and Movistar Colombia, owned by Spain’s Telefónica Móviles.