Cesky Telecom merges with subsidiary Eurotel

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2006

PRAGUE (AFP) — Czech fixed-line telephone operator Cesky Telecom, 69.4-percent owned by Spanish phone giant Telefonica, announced that it is to merge with its wholly owned mobile-telephone business, Eurotel.

Trading in Cesky Telecom shares was suspending on the Prague Stock Exhange before the announcement of what was termed "strategic information".

The merger comes amid increased competition for Cesky Telecom and Eurotel, the country's biggest mobile phone company, on the converging Czech telecoms market.

T-Mobile, owned by Deutsche Telekom, is the second-biggest mobile phone company and Vodafone the third, following its acquisition of Oskar Mobile from Canada-based TIW last year.

Cesky Telecom chief executive Jaime Smith said that the merger of the...