Greek-owned Cosmote is discussing the acquisition of Telemobil, owner of the Romanian Zapp mobile network. Cosmote owns a 70% share of rival cellco Cosmote Romania, the country’s third largest wireless operator. Cosmote is the only wireless operator in Romania without a 3G licence, having lost out to Zapp in a 2006 auction.
General manager of Cosmote Romania Stefanos Theocharopoulos has indicated that finding a solution to allow his company to provide 3G services would be key to enabling it to build upon its wireless market share, which as of September 2008 stood at 19.68% with 5.25 million subscribers.