Millicom Returns To
Costa Rica With The
Purchase of Amnet
Millicom is making a
return to Costa Rica,
announcing Tuesday that
it would be buying Amnet
Telecommunicaionts, the
leading provider of
broadband internet and
cable television in
Central America, for
us$510 million dollars.
Under the deal, Amnet
would be 100% in the
hands of Millicom
International Cellular,
which is subject to the
"usual approvals",
according to Marc Beuls,
president of Millicom,
who made the
announcement of the buy
out.
Millicom International
Cellular is a mobile
phone network provider
in America, Africa and
Asia. Based in
Luxembourg, the company
provides mobile services
in 16 countries under
the brand name "Tigo".
In Central America,
Millicom has been
operating its Tigo bran
in Guatemala, Honduras
and El Salvador since
2004. In South America,
Tigo is being offered in
Colombia, Bolivia and
Paraguay.
The Amnet purchase will
give Millicom an
additional 350.000
clients and is,
according to Beuls, an
important step in the
development of the
company's strategy in
Central America.
Amnet, owned by Amzak
Corporation, founded in
1968 in Halifax, Canada,
by Mike Kazma, entered
the market in 1998 the
cable television company
"Cablecolor", beginning
its operations in El
Salvador. A year later
the Cablecolor became
Amnet (American Network)
all over Central
America.
Amnet offers cable
television and internet
cable services in Costa
Rica, El Salvador and
Honduras. In El Salvador
and Honduras, Amnet also
offers residential and
commercial telephone
services under the name
Amnet Tel.
On its website, Millicom
says it provides
affordable, widely
accessible and readily
available prepaid
cellular telephony
services to 20 million
customers.
This is not the first
time Millicom enters the
Costa Rican market,
failing the first time
around to establish
cellular service under
the José María Figueres
administration.
In May of 1995, Millicom
which pioneered cellular
telephone communications
in Costa Rica, was
forced to cease
operations by the Costa
Rican Supreme Court. The
reason was because the
1989 concession was
supposedly in conflict
with the constitutional
monopoly granted to the
state telecom monopoly,
the Instituto
Costaricense de
Electricidad (ICE).
Millicom was forced to
leave Costa Rica after
making large
infrastructure
investments.
Last month the ICE
monopoly came to an end
and the cellular and
internet
telecommunications
sector is open to free
market competition.
Millicom's shares are
listed on the Nasdaq
Stock Market under the
symbol MICC and on
Stockholmsbörsen under
the symbol MIC.
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