Colombia's ETB, EPM To Auction Wireless Co Ola On Aug 3"

BOGOTA -(Dow Jones)- The two companies controlling Colombia's third-biggest mobile telephone operator Colombia Movil, commonly known as Ola, will auction their unit on Aug. 3, the companies said in a filing to the country's stock and bond regulator.

State-owned Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota, or ETB, and public utility Empresas Publicas de Medellin, or EPM, which own 50% of Ola each, will auction a controlling stake in Ola to the three companies that showed an interest.

The three are Luxembourg-based Millicom International Cellular, Chile-based Entel and Digicel, who operates a wireless network in Jamaica and the Caribbean.

Irish businessman Dennis O'Brien owns a controlling stake in Digicel, according to the Web site of the International Finance Corp., which is a partner of the company.

ETB and EPM had invited a total of nine international telecommunication companies to file offers for Ola, including Mexico-based America Movil, Venezuela's CA Nacional de Telefonos de Venezuela, Spain's Telefonica and London-based Cable & Wireless.

Ola's shareholders have together invested $658.5 million since its creation in November 2003. The company has only reported losses since then.

EPM and ETB previously had announced they would sell a 15% stake in an initial public offering in the Colombian stock market.

Ola controls about 10% of the Colombian market with 2.2 million subscribers and competes with the local units of America Movil and Telefonica.

-By Inti Landauro, Dow Jones Newswires; 571-600-1980; colombia@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-07-06 1916ET

Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc."

Posted to the site on 8th July 2006