EU OKs Vodafone To Buy Czech Telecom Co Oskar Mobil

BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones)- The European Union Wednesday cleared telecommunications giant Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) to buy the eastern European operations of the Canadian firm, Telesystem International Wireless Inc. (TIW.T).

Vodafone will acquire the Czech wireless carrier Oskar Mobil A.S. and a further 79% of the Romanian wireless carrier MobiFon S.A. Vodafone already owns a 20.1% stake in the Romanian carrier.

The sale will be completed through Vodafone's purchase of TIW's Netherlands-based holding company ClearWave N.V. for about $3.5 billion in cash and the assumption of ClearWave's debt, estimated at $950 million.

The ClearWave sale will mark the end of the line for TIW, which is planning to distribute the proceeds to shareholders.

Vodafone, which posted 2004 losses of GBP8.2 million on a revenue of GBP33.6 billion, is the world's second-largest wireless provider, behind Hong Kong's China Mobile (CHL) in numbers of subscribers. The acquisition will allow Vodafone to expand its presence in the relatively untapped eastern European market, particularly in Romania, where 47% of the population uses mobile phones.

-By Casey Koppelson, Dow Jones Newswires; +32-2-741-13-57; casey.koppelson@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

Posted to the site on 25th May 2005