Telenet now owns 30% of the mobile phone market after taking over Base. The Mechelen company is planning to invest 240 million in order to become as fast and reliable as the other networks, announced John Porter, Telenet CEO, at a press conference in Mechelen on Monday. He justified the timing of this purchase by pointing out that the market was stable, and that now was the perfect time to invest after a complicated 2013 in the sector of mobile phones in Belgium, due to new regulations and intense competition. Telenet currently uses the Mobistar network for its mobile phones, but now has its own network thanks to the Base take-over. The collaboration with Mobistar is not at an end just yet. “It should last until 2017. Furthermore, the Base network is not large enough to take in all the Telenet clients,” added John Porter.
The manager announced that the incorporation of Base will not be rushed. The purchase must first be approved by competition authorities. Meanwhile, Telenet will look into detail with both Base and Dutch parent-company KPN how to best implement the merger. John Porter also reckoned it was too early to talk about restructuring. It is however obvious that stores will be optimised and streamlined.
The Base brands, as well as JIM Mobile, will provisionally stay in place because they are quite strong. It is also still possible to become a Base client.
(Source: Belga)
