Telecom Lead Europe: UK-based communications giant BT
Group announced that its BT Italia unit has sold its entire 96.18 percent stake
in WiMAX subsidiary NGI to Cometa.
Comya is owned by the current chief executive officer of
NGI, Luca Spada, and Gruppo Elmec, for an undisclosed Sum.
The sales will allow BT Italia to focus on its core
business, which is to offer services and communications solutions to corporate
customers and the government sector.
BT Italia offers data transmission, voice and internet
services to around 90,000 SME, corporate and SOHO customers over
a 14,000km fibre-optic network.
NGI has been offering broadband services since 1999,
including fixed WiMAX since 2008. Its network operates in the 5.4GHz
licence-exempt band, and it provides broadband services to both residential and
business customers in underserved areas.
The audited gross assets of NGI were EUR 21.4 million as
at March 31, 2011.
NGI’s -EOLO’ branded broadband wireless service offers
services via a combination of HiperLAN2 (802.11h) and WiMAX (802.16e)
technology, and expanded its coverage level almost daily. Base stations are
concentrated around the north of the country, although coverage down as far as
Bologna is planned.
BT also plans to double its business across Turkey, the Middle East and Africa. To
support global companies investing in these regions, BT will hire around 170
new employees across the three regions, including highly skilled professional
services.
These initiatives build on similar programs in Asia
Pacific and Latin America, where orders in the first nine months of this
financial year were up over 50 per cent.
The addressable market in Turkey, the Middle East and
Africa was worth a combined $8.5 billion in 2011, according to BT’s research.
editor@telecomlead.com
