Tele2 Sweden has reached an agreement to acquire a 49% stake in Swedish GSM operator Spring Mobil with an option to acquire the remaining shares in the first quarter of 2009. If approved by the Swedish competition authority, Konkurrensverket, the total investment from Tele2 is estimated at SEK150 million (USD20 million). The agreement also gives Tele2 access to parts of the frequencies in Spring’s GSM licence.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, SweFour subsidiary Spring Mobil launched services in mid-February 2004, following its GSM 900MHz licence award in May 2002. Its ‘OnePhone’ service is focused exclusively on the enterprise market, setting up GSM mobile networks in customers’ premises to enable them to ditch their reliance on fixed line equipment. The service offers outdoor GSM and W-CDMA mobile coverage via an MVNO agreement with Tele2. Spring Mobil has signed long term contracts with around 400 enterprises. Lars-Johan Jarnheimer, President and CEO of Tele2, commented: ‘This agreement expands our existing MNVO relationship with Spring Mobil. It gives us access to a new product and service offering and an excellent opportunity to broaden our sales effort into the small and medium sized business segment, in order to secure the possibility of further growth.’