Israeli Operator Confirms Bid for Local Rival

­Israeli mobile network operator, Partner Communications has confirmed that it has submitted a formal bid to buy rival operator, MIRS from Motorola. All three of Isreal's incumbent operators are understood to be interested in acquiring the mobile network operator, which has been previously valued at around US$300 million.

MIRS Communications operates an iDEN network, supplied by Motorola but has been looking to switch to a 3G technology.

In a statement, the company said that at this stage, there is no assurance that the offer will be accepted or that an agreement will be reached as the offer is subject to conditions including further due diligence as well as satisfactory resolution on detailed contract terms.

According to figures from the Mobile World database, the company ended last year with an estimated 441,000 subscribers - representing a market share of just under 5%.

A controlling stake in Partner Communications was recently sold by its then parent company, Hong Kong registered Hutchison Telecom to local handset distributor, Scailex Corp. The sale of the 51% stake to Scailex was for approximately US$1.38 billion. Of the remaining shares in the company, 43.4% is listed on the local stock exchange and 5.3% is held by the founding shareholders.

On the web: Partner Communications - MIRS - Mobile World

Posted to the site on 21st September 2009