British Telecommunications PLC
12 May 2000
BT CONSORTIUM LAUNCHES ITALIAN MOBILE SERVICE
BT announced that Blu, the Italian consortium in which it
has a 20 per cent stake, will today become Italy's fourth
mobile network. Italy is Europe's largest mobile
communications market with more than 30 million customers
and represents for BT a key strategic market.
BT has stakes in fixed operator Albacom, a voice and
data communications company, and the recently floated
business Internet service provider (ISP) I.NET. It wholly
owns Infinito, a consumer ISP.
Pat Gallagher, president of BT Europe, said: 'Italy is
a very mature mobile market with about half the population
owning a mobile phone. Italian customers are very receptive
to new technology. As the lead technology partner in Blu and
with mobile operations in 14 countries, BT will use its
wealth of experience to ensure that Blu becomes a
significant force in the rapidly developing Italian market
for mobile and mobile Internet services.' Blu was awarded a
DCS 1800 mobile licence by the Italian government last
summer and plans to invest £1.8 billion over 10 years.
The other shareholders in Blu are Autostrade (32 per
cent), Benetton (nine per cent), Mediaset (nine per cent),
Caltigirone (seven per cent), Italgas (seven per cent),
Distacom (nine per cent) and Banca Nazionale del Lavoro
(seven per cent).
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