 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (April 2013) |
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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 5 December 1912 |
| Defunct | 14 March 2023 |
| Fate | Merged with One Telecommunications |
| Successor | One Albania |
| Headquarters | Tirana, Albania |
Key people | Ervin Shpori, CEO |
| Products | Fixed Telephony Mobile Telephony Broadband Internet IT Services Networking Solutions IP television Cloud Services |
| Brands | ALBtv, ALBtelecom Mobile, ALBtelecom Wi-Fi |
| Owner | 4iG Nyrt. (Antenna Hungária) 80,27%, Albanian ministry of finance and economy 13,78% and Posta Shqiptare 2,47% |
| Website | www |
ALBtelecom sh.a. (a shortening of Albanian Telecom, Albanian: Telekomi Shqiptar) was an Albanian telecommunications company. It was established as Albania's state company that provided telecommunications services through a fixed network. On 5 December 1912 the Provisional Government led by Ismail Qemali established the Ministry of Post Telegraph Telephones, where ALBtelecom existed only as a government office.[1] It is the largest fixed line telephone company in the country, currently covering with Optical Fiber Backbone Network the entire territory of Albanian cities (Albania's population is 3.2 million).[2]
It was privatized on 1 October 2007 (following a privatization process which started in 2000), with 76% of its shares sold by the Albanian government to a consortium of two Turkish companies, Çalık Holding and Türk Telekom, with Calik taking 80% of the consortium's stake.[1]
In May 1996 ALBtelecom created Albanian Mobile Communications (Now One Albania) in March 2008 created another mobile telephony company called Eagle Mobile,[3] which gained a 13% market share within a year.[4]
In December 2021 4iG Plc acquired a 80,27% stake in Albtelecom from Calik Holding in an undisclosed deal. The transaction is expected to be finalized due to regulatory approval in January 2022.[5] After the approval for the sale of ALBtelecom to 4iG Plc then the ownership was transferred to Antenna Hungária.[6][7]
- ^ a b Albtelecom, [1] Archived 2016-08-23 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 31 March 2009
- ^ Albtelecom, "Albtelecom, the strongest tie with Albanians"[permanent dead link], accessed 31 March 2009
- ^ Eagle Mobile, Eagle Mobile, accessed 31 March 2009
- ^ Eagle Mobile, 16 March 2009, "More surprises and innovations in Albania!", accessed 31 March 2009
- ^ Pai, Shailaja (2021-12-10). "Hungary's 4iG acquires Albania's Albtelecom". Developing Telecoms. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
- ^ Pham, Manny (2022-04-13). "4iG bolsters position to take on Hungary market rival". Developing Telecoms. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
- ^ "4iG has unified its telecommunications portfolio with Antenna Hungaria". www.4ig.hu. Retrieved 2022-04-29.