Telecompaper

Mobistar has agreed to acquire KPN's B2B and carrier services acvtivities on the Belgian market for EUR 65 million. The agreement includes the fibre network, the business customer base, the wholesale activities from the former Versatel operations and around 135 employees. Pending regulatory approval, Mobistar expects to close the deal in the first quarter of 2010. The deal gives mobile operator Mobistar another 1,800km of fibre network and two data centres, as well as an additional 9,000 professional clients. The takeover should add to revenues and EBITDA from 2010, with KPN Belgium Business generating estimated sales of EUR 48.9 million and EBITDA of EUR 10.1 million in 2009. Mobistar will continue to provide wholesale services to KPN Belgium for its residential ADSL products. Netherlands-based KPN said it decided to sell the wholesale and business activities due to the unfavourable competitive environment in Belgium. After the divestment, KPN Belgium will focus on fixed and mobile services for the consumer, SOHO and SME customer segments, and its IT services arm Getronics also remains active in the country.