Tele2 is in talks with Access Industries to gain access to more mobile spectrum in Norway, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Tele2 lost out to Access in the spectrum auction in December, leaving it without the frequencies needed to expand its nework. Access Industries, a holding company owned by Ukrainian-American billionaire Len Blavatnik, won airwaves in the 800, 900 and 1800 MHz bands. The two companies are now in talks about options including Access selling its spectrum to Tele2, Access buying Tele2's Norway operation, or some type of licensing of the spectrum to Tele2.
According to Reuters' sources, Access would only sell its spectrum to Tele2 on the condition that it also buys ice.net, a small Norwegian mobile broadband company owned by Access. Nor is Access willing to pay a high price for Tele2's Norway unit, two of the sources said. If Tele2 does not secure a deal with Access, it may have to buy capacity on other operators' networks, putting its margins in Norway under further pressure. Analysts value Tele2 Norway, which counts around 1.2 million customers, at SEK 2.3-4.0 billion (USD 350-610 million), down from about SEK 5 billion before the auction.
For its part, Access is willing to build a Norwegian mobile network from scratch to use its spectrum, the sources said, although it would take more time. It plans to adopt a wholesale strategy and rent out network capacity to the dozens of local broadband companies in Norway who want to offer mobile services. Access is also speaking to Telenor and Teliasonera to see if network sharing deals would be possible, said one of the people.
