Albania sells public shares of mobile operator for 48 million euro

TIRANA, Feb 11 – Albania sold the 12.6 percent public stake of its first mobile operator Albanian Mobile Communications, or AMC, for 48.2 million Euros to Cosmote Mobile Telecommunications SA, the same owner that has the other majority stake, now becoming the only owner.
Three other international companies participated at the international tender for the government-owned 12.6 percent of the AMC shares and Cosmote offered the best bid, Telecommunications Vice Minister Eno Bozdo said Wednesday.
AMC was opened in 1996 as a state-run venture before 85 percent of its shares were sold to the Greek-Norwegian company CosmoteTelenor consortium in 2000, now having about 1.3 million subscribers.
Two other mobile operators are present in Albania; Vodafone Albania and Eagle Mobile which take the total number of subscribers to about three million.
A fourth one is expected to be licensed by the government in the near future.