América Móvil owns 23% of the Austrian operator and Daniel Hajj Aboumrad, CEO at América Móvil, said: “You can expect many things from us, but nothing hostile. We did not buy our stake in Telekom Austria in order to take it over.”
América Móvil’s attempt to buy Dutch operator KPN recently fell through, and the company was rumoured to be eyeing Telekom Austria as a way of entering the European market.
The Austrian government holds a 28% stake in Telekom Austria and Carlos Slim – owner of América Móvil – owns a further 3%.
Hajj Aboumrad – Slim’s son-in-law – said that the company saw the government as a partner and that the two would work together to determine a strategy for Telekom Austria.
The CEO sees a capital increase at Telekom Austria as “very likely”, following a costly Austrian frequency auction which will cost the operator €1.03 billion – approximately 38% of its market value.
Hajj did not verify whether América Móvil would participate in a capital increase, but confirmed that the company would remain a stable partner.
