Yettel Bulgaria

Last updated
Yettel Bulgaria
Native name
Йеттел България
FormerlyGlobul, Telenor
Company type LLC
Industry Mobile Telecommunications
Founded17 September 2001;22 years ago (2001-09-17) (as Globul)
Headquarters
Sofia
,
Bulgaria
Key people
Jason King, Chairman and CEO [1]
Products
RevenueIncrease2.svg €425 million [2]  (2021)
211,000,000 Bulgarian lev (2021)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Total assets 398,000,000 Bulgarian lev (2021)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Number of employees
1,900 [3]  (2022)
Parent
Website www.yettel.bg

Yettel Bulgaria (formerly known as Telenor Bulgaria) is the largest mobile network and the third largest fixed telecommunications company in Bulgaria. The company was founded under the name "Cosmo Bulgaria Mobile" in 2001 by OTE and operated under the brand name "Globul" until 2014. In 2013 it was bought by Telenor and changed its name. In August 2018, the company was acquired by PPF, a Czech private investment fund. [4] The company continued to use the Telenor brand until 1 March 2022, when it was renamed to Yettel Bulgaria. In February 2024, the company was aquired by e& (Etisalat), and the merger was approved by Bulgaria's competition watchdog. However the branding of Yettel has not yet been changed. [5]

Contents

History

The company was founded in 2001 by telecommunications corporation OTE group, from 2005 to 2013 it was part of the Cosmote brand line of the group, since August 2013, is 100% owned by Norwegian telecommunications corporation Telenor which acquired it from OTE in for EUR 717 million. [6] [7]

Advertisement announcing Telenor's rebranding Telenor stava Yettel.png
Advertisement announcing Telenor's rebranding

At the end of 2012, Globul reported 4.5 million subscribers (up from 3.9 million in March 2011), with 36% subscriber market share. As of 2012, Globul had about 62% contract subscribers, about 38% prepaid subscribers, and abound 220,000 fixed-line subscribers. [8]

Globul changed its company logo in June 2006 to unify it with the Cosmote brand.

Second rebranding started on 16 October 2014 after Telenor's acquisition. Globul has been using Telenor's name since November 2014.[ citation needed ]

In January 2018, the company's management confirmed media reports that there is interest in sale of Telenor's business in Southeast Europe, including Telenor Bulgaria. [9] In March 2018, Telenor sold its business in Central and East Europe (Bulgaria, Hungary, Montenegro and Serbia) to the investment fund PPF, for a sum of 2.8 billion euros. [10]

As of 1 March 2022 the company Telenor Bulgaria has been named Yettel Bulgaria. The name change was a part of the wider rebranding initiative in Bulgaria, Hungary and Serbia where the PPF’s Telenor branded businesses operate. [11]

In 2023, it was reported that PPF was considering selling its stake in Yettel to UAE-based Telecommunications group e& (Etisalat). [12] In 2024, Bulgaria’s competition watchdog approved the sale of Yettel Bulgaria alongside infastructure provider Cetin Bulgaria to e& (Etisalat). [5]

Network

As of 2012, Globul's GSM network covers 99,98% of Bulgaria's population and 99,48% of the country's territory. The company has roaming agreements with over 400 operators in more than 170 countries and territories worldwide.[ citation needed ]

In 2005, Globul received a license for developing and implementing 3G UMTS mobile telecommunications network as well as a fixed telephony license. 3G services were launched in September 2006 and have since been upgraded to support HSPA+ with speeds of up to 42 Mbit/s download and 5.76 Mbit/s upload. [13] As of December 2012, Globul's UMTS network covers 94,81% of the country's population.

Telenor uses the access code 089. Until 2003, it used the codes 099 and 098, the latter having been added as the network had expanded. In mid-2003, however, mobile numbers in Bulgaria increased by one digit (by adding an initial -8-) and the network code changed to 089 only.

Alongside Globul, OTE had also owned one of the two public telephone networks in the country – BulFon, which it sold back to the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company in 2005. [14] [15]

After Telenor acquired Globul was made the intent that the whole existing network (both 2G and 3G) shall be rebuilt. Later in a press release it was revealed that Huawei had been selected. In early 2013 the process has already begun. Telenor created a specific webpage that shows in which region and when the network would be rebuilt. The deadline is by mid 2015. Telenor also said that the network that they build would be easily made 4G LTE when the market indicates that it is ready for it. [16]

LTE

Telenor Bulgaria offers 4G services under the LTE standard in the 1,800 MHz band to all of its customers from 1 December 2015 in 53 cities and 2 resorts with coverage to 56.73% of the country's population. Further expansion is expected in 2016, including Bulgaria's popular seaside resorts. [17] [18] The maximum speed of the Telenor 4G network is 75 Мbps. The service is initially available in Sofia and most of southern Bulgaria. By mid-December, Telenor's LTE service will cover all Bulgarian cities with a population of more than 20,000, including all regional centres and the most popular winter resorts. [19]

Telenor said it will continue to expand the coverage and the capacity of its LTE network, depending on spectrum availability, further into 2016. Telenor 4G services are available at no additional cost until 31 January 2016 to all customers with 4G-enabled handsets and SIM cards, which are all Telenor SIM cards (including 3in1 SIMs) purchased or replaced in the last several years. Users with older SIM cards will be able to replace them free of charge at any Telenor or official partner shop where a wide variety of 4G-enabled devices is also available after 1 December. [19]

In April 2016 Telenor announced that its LTE network covers all residential areas with over 5,000 inhabitants and provides fast data transfer for 75% of the Bulgarian's population. [20]

In May 2016, Telenor was awarded 2x5MHz additional spectrum in the 1800 MHz band from CRC.The additional frequencies will be used for further improving the quality of the company's 4G LTE services by allowing Telenor to increase the maximum theoretical data speed in its 4G network to 100 Mbit/s. [21]

5G

Telenor Bulgaria completed Bulgaria's first live 5G video call during a public test session on 19 August 2019. [22] On 10 June 2021, Telenor Bulgaria officially launched 5G services nationwide during an event in Burgas attended by several customers, dignitaries and government officials. [23] During its 20+ years of history on the Bulgarian market, the company built a strong track record as a pioneer in wireless and beyond, launching Bulgaria’s first commercial 4G network in 2015, the first VoLTE service in 2018 and paving the way for the development of 5G with the country’s first 5G network test.

Other

In 2006, Globul launched i-mode in Bulgaria. Globul was the first operator worldwide to introduce Nokia i-mode handsets in September 2007. In 2007 Globul launched BlackBerry, the service is accessible from the network of Globul as well as from the roaming partners of Globul. In March 2009, GLOBUL launched iPhone 3G in Bulgaria and four months later offered the new iPhone 3GS. In August 2010, offered iPhone 4. The mobile operator was the first in Bulgaria to propose an integrated solution for fixed and mobile telephony with the MVPN service, Office Zone and Student Zone.

In 2007 Globul received a license for 802.16 point-to-multipoint network in the 26 GHz band. The company uses WiBAS technology for broadband wireless transmission in the major cities. [24] In 2009 Globul started fast-speed broadband Internet services. [25]

Services

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celcom</span> Malaysian Telecommunications Company

Celcom Axiata Berhad is the oldest mobile telecommunications provider in Malaysia. Celcom is a member of the Axiata group of companies. Celcom was merged with Digi to form CelcomDigi on 1 December 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3G</span> Third generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology

3G is the third generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology. It is the upgrade over 2G, 2.5G, GPRS and 2.75G Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution networks, offering faster data transfer, and better voice quality. This network was superseded by 4G, and later on by 5G. This network is based on a set of standards used for mobile devices and mobile telecommunications use services and networks that comply with the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) specifications by the International Telecommunication Union. 3G finds application in wireless voice telephony, mobile Internet access, fixed wireless Internet access, video calls and mobile TV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OTE</span> Greek telecommunication company

Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation S.A. is the largest technology company in Greece. It is one of the three largest companies listed in the Athens Stock Exchange, according to market capitalization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Etisalat by e&</span> Multinational telecommunications company of the United Arab Emirates

Emirates Telecommunications Group Company PJSC, doing business as etisalat by e&, is a UAE state-owned telecommunications company. It is the 18th largest mobile network operator in the world by number of subscribers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beeline (brand)</span> Telecommunications brand initially introduced in 1993 in Russia

Beeline, formerly Bee Line GSM is a telecommunications brand by company PJSC VimpelCom, founded in Russia.

Pak Telecommunication Mobile Limited or Ufone is a Pakistani GSM cellular service provider. It is the third mobile operator to enter Pakistani market. It started its operations under the brand Ufone, in Islamabad on January 29, 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telcel</span> Mexican wireless telecommunications company

Radio Móvil Dipsa S.A.U., doing business as Telcel, is a Mexican wireless telecommunications company, owned by América Móvil, founded in 1984 and based in Mexico City. Telcel holds concessions to operate a wireless network in all nine geographic regions in Mexico using both the 850 megahertz and 1900 megahertz radio spectrum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dialog Axiata</span> Sri Lankan telecommunications company

Dialog Axiata PLC, is one of Sri Lanka's largest telecommunications service providers, and the country's largest mobile network operator with over 17 million subscribers which amounts to 57% of the Sri Lankan mobile market. Dialog is a subsidiary of Axiata Group Berhad which owns 83.32% controlling stake of the company, while the rest is held by the public.

A1 Bulgaria is a telecommunications company in Bulgaria owned by A1 Telekom Austria Group.

Vivacom is the largest telecommunications company in Bulgaria and a former state-owned incumbent operator. The company is headquartered in the capital city Sofia and employs around 5,900 people, owning a mature distribution network with around 230 branded retail outlets and alternative sale points.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telenor Pakistan</span> Telephone operator company

Telenor Pakistan (Pvt.) Limited is a Pakistani wireless network operator headquartered in Islamabad, Pakistan. Khurrum Ashfaque is the current chief executive officer (CEO).

Yettel Serbia is a Serbian mobile, fixed, internet and IPTV provider, owned by the Czech investment group PPF. It is headquartered in Belgrade. As of 2020, it is the second largest mobile telephony operator with market share of 36.98%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telenor Sverige</span> Swedish telecommunications company

Telenor Sverige, is a mobile phone, IPTV and Internet service provider in Sweden, owned by Telenor. Telenor Sverige's network covers 99 percent of the country's population, with telecom infrastructure sharing on 2G, 4G LTE and 5G NR under the Net4Mobility joint venture with Tele2, and on 3G UMTS with 3 Sverige outside Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Lund and Karlskrona, where it has its own 3G masts. Today, Telenor Sweden has over 2.5 million mobile subscribers, approximately 645,000 broadband customers and half a million TV customers. Telenor Sweden has a turnover of approximately SEK 13.1 billion (2015) and has approximately 1,900 employees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SLTMobitel</span> Sri Lankan telecom company

Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, doing business as SLT-MOBITEL, is the national telecommunications services provider in Sri Lanka and one of the country's largest companies with an annual turnover in excess of Rs 40 billion. The company provides domestic and corporate services which include fixed and wireless telephony, Internet access and IT services to domestic, public and business sector customers. As of 2018 SLT-MOBITEL was Sri Lanka's second largest mobile network operator with over 7.9 million subscribers.

COSMOTE MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS known as just Cosmote is the largest mobile network operator in Greece. The company is headquartered in Athens and is a fully owned subsidiary of the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE), the incumbent telecommunications provider in Greece. COSMOTE has developed business operations in two other Southeast Europe countries through subsidiaries: Telekom Albania and Telekom Romania, addressing an extended market of 45 million people. In all three countries COSMOTE counts approximately 35.6 million customers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DTAC</span> Thai telecommunication company

Total Access Communication Public Company Limited, commonly known as DTAC, is a GSM mobile phone company in Thailand. It is the nation's third largest GSM phone company, after AIS and True. DTAC is owned by Norwegian company Telenor both directly and indirectly, and both companies share the same logo. As of 31 December 2011, DTAC had 23.2 million subscribers with a market share of subscribers at around 30 percent. As of 2019, the company has 20.642 million mobile subscriptions and 3904 employees. It is listed on the Singapore Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

3G mobile telephony was relatively slow to be adopted globally. In some instances, 3G networks do not use the same radio frequencies as 2G so mobile operators must build entirely new networks and license entirely new frequencies, especially so to achieve high data transmission rates. Other delays were due to the expenses of upgrading transmission hardware, especially for UMTS, whose deployment required the replacement of most broadcast towers. Due to these issues and difficulties with deployment, many carriers delayed acquisition of these updated capabilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airtel India</span> Indian telecommunications company

Airtel India commonly known as Airtel, is the second largest provider of mobile telephony and third largest provider of fixed telephony in India, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services. The brand is operated by several subsidiaries of Bharti Airtel, with Bharti Hexacom and Bharti Telemedia providing broadband fixed line services and Bharti Infratel providing telecom passive infrastructure service such as telecom equipment and telecom towers. Currently, Airtel provides 5G, 4G and 4G+ services all over India. Currently offered services include fixed-line broadband, and voice services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel had also rolled out its VoLTE technology across all Indian telecom circles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One Albania</span> Albanian telecommunications company

One Albania sh.a is a telecommunications company that operates in Albania. It was founded as Albanian Mobile Communications and was part of the COSMOTE Group since 2000. In 2015, the company joined the Deutsche Telekom group after which it was rebranded as Telekom Albania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jazz (mobile network operator)</span> Pakistani telecommunications company

Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited (PMCL), doing business as Jazz, (Urdu: جاز) is Pakistan's largest mobile network and internet services provider formed by the merger of Mobilink and Warid Pakistan.

References

  1. ↑ www.telenor.bg
  2. ↑ www.telenor.bg
  3. ↑ www.telenor.com
  4. ↑ https://www.ppf.eu/en/press-releases/ppf- group-buys-telenors- telecommunications-active-in-EEC-countries
  5. 1 2 Pham, Manny (21 February 2024). "Bulgarian regulator approves e& acquisition of Yettel, Cetin". Developing Telecoms. Archived from the original on 5 April 2024. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  6. ↑ TNP (2013-06-27). "Telenor Acquires Globul in Bulgaria". The Nordic Page. Retrieved 2024-03-15.
  7. ↑ Telenor press release
  8. ↑ "Новини за хардуер, компютри, телефони, игри, техника". GLOBUL (in Bulgarian). 2024-03-14. Retrieved 2024-03-15.
  9. ↑ "Telenor prodaje posao u Srbiji". b92.net (in Serbian). Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  10. ↑ Dagenborg, Joachim; Knudsen, Camilla (21 March 2018). "Norway's Telenor exits central Europe with $3.4 billion asset sale to Czech investor PPF". reuters.com. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  11. ↑ "Теленор ще стане Yettel | Telenor - Най-добрата мрежа. Тествано!". www.telenor.bg. Retrieved 2022-01-27.
  12. ↑ Nikolov, Konstantin (26 July 2023). "Czech PPF in talks to sell stake in Yettel Bulgaria to Etisalat". Kapital Insights. Archived from the original on 5 April 2024. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  13. ↑ GLOBUL 3G Service
  14. ↑ ""Система" купи "Интраком телеком"". Dnevnik (in Bulgarian). 2006-06-30. Retrieved 2024-03-15.
  15. ↑ "Фонокарта: Still Life (BulFon, България(Картини) Col:BG-FON-C-0006". Colnect (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 2024-03-15.
  16. ↑ Telenor Bulgaria Archived 2015-01-20 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ↑ "Telenor Bulgaria to Offer 4G Services from Next Month - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency". www.novinite.com. Retrieved 2024-03-15.
  18. ↑ staff, The Sofia Globe (2015-11-26). "Telenor Bulgaria to launch 4G services on December 1". The Sofia Globe. Retrieved 2024-03-15.
  19. 1 2 Telecompaper.
  20. ↑ 4G network.
  21. ↑ "Telenor Bulgaria acquires additional spectrum in 1800MHz band".
  22. ↑ "Telenor will broadcast 360-video from the stage of Orlin Pavlov's concert in Plovdiv during its third 5G trial in Sofia | Yettel - Най-добрата мрежа. Тествано!". www.yettel.bg. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  23. ↑ Sharma, Ray. "Telenor Bulgaria Starts Commercial 5G Service with FWA Offering". www.thefastmode.com. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  24. ↑ Intracom Wibas Archived 2008-11-21 at the Wayback Machine
  25. ↑ GLOBUL News
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.