TDC to divest Bitë

Bitë Group, which operates cellular networks in the Baltic countries of Latvia and Lithuania, is to be sold by its parent, Danish incumbent TDC. Central and Eastern European private equity fund Mid Europa Partners, is to buy 100% of the subsidiary for a reported cash consideration of EUR450 million (USD583 million). Bitë Group consists of Lithuanian cellco Bitë GSM and its wholly owned subsidiary Bitë Latvia. Bitë GSM, which launched services in 1995, claimed just under a third of the market at the end of September 2006 with 1,977,000 subscribers. Bitë Latvia launched a GSM/GPRS network in September 2005 and started upgrading it with EDGE technology the following month. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, it was the country’s smallest cellco at the end of 3Q 2006, with an estimated 135,000 subscribers.