Tele2 to launch as MVNO over T-Mobile Austria

Tele2 has announced its Austrian subsidiary will re-enter the country’s mobile market as a business-to-business MVNO over T-Mobile’s network. The Swedish operator said the move will make Tele2 one of Austria’s most diversified telecoms providers with an offer covering broadband, TV, and fixed and mobile telephony.

The telco previously operated in the Austrian consumer mobile market until 2007 when it sold the operation to Telekom Austria. There hasn’t been any indication of plans to get back into the country’s consumer business and the Austrian market is already very competitive with three operators (3 Austria, Telekom Austria and T-Mobile).

“We are happy to have reached an MVNO agreement with T-Mobile,” Niklas Sonkin, EVP Central Europe and Eurasia at Tele2 said. “This enables us to better meet our current customers’ needs and become even more attractive on the market through more competitive offers.”

Tele2 has recently made efforts to concentrate focus in its core markets. These moves have included its agreement to sell its Norwegian assets to TeliaSonera following the telco’s unsuccessful bid in the country’s last spectrum auction in December 2013.

As first announced in December, the operator has recently also launched a 4G-only network in the Netherlands, marking the telco’s move from an MVNO to MNO in the Dutch market. It claimed it will be able to act as a challenger in a market where it said 4G is still considered an expensive premium by subscribers.

Tele2 has also said it intends to increase its 4G coverage in the Baltics to 90% of the countries’ combined population by the end of 2015, claiming it has the most modern LTE infrastructure in the region.

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