Hungary’s dominant telecoms service provider Magyar Telekom (MT), backed by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, has acquired two local mobile multimedia content providers for HUF1 billion (USD5.23 million). In a statement to the Budapest Stock Exchange, MT said: ‘Magyar Telekom has agreed to acquire a 100% stake in MobilPress and a 75.05% stake in MFactory for a combined purchase price of HUF1 billion. In addition, the company also has an option to increase its stake in MFactory to 100% from 2009’. The two deals will increase the operator’s presence in the local mobile content market and allow it to develop a multi-channel multimedia service centre to nurture opportunities in what is seen as a growing segment.
MobilPress is leading provider of mobile content services in Hungary and manages, among others, the T-zones portal. The deal to buy the company is subject to approval from the Hungarian Competition Authority. MFactory meanwhile, is one of the country’s larger mobile content producers and aggregators.