Mobiltel

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Mobiltel

Type	joint stock company
Founded	1994
Headquarters	Sofia, Bulgaria
Key people	Josef Vinatzer, CEO
Industry	mobile telecommunications
Products	mobile telephony, Internet services
Revenue	€583.8 million (2006) [1]
Website	http://www.mtel.bg

Mobiltel, commonly known as M-tel, is the first and largest mobile phone operator in Bulgaria, founded in 1994. The company had a market share of about 58% and 3,000,000 clients in September 2004. On 14 September 2006 M-tel reached 4,000,000 clients.

The operator has been owned by Mobilkom Austria Group since July 2005, when it was acquired for up to €1.6 billion in one of Eastern Europe's largest deals and one of the largest foreign investments in Austria's history. On 22 February 2006, the company signed a partner network agreement with Vodafone. Mobiltel was the first Bulgarian operator to offer EDGE, UMTS and HSDPA services to its clients, with video telephony services being available since 6 March 2006 in the capital Sofia and since mid-July 2006 throughout the Bulgarian Black Sea resorts [2].

The company is the official sponsor of Bulgarian football club PFC Levski Sofia. Since 2005, the company also organizes the strong annual M-tel Masters chess tournament, which is attended by six of the world's best International Grandmasters.