Stockholm, Sweden, and New York, USA, March 10, 2009
Access Secures ice.net's Future in Sweden
- Provides stability for continued development and growth
- Follows the recent acquisition of ice.net in Norway by Access
Access Industries, a U.S.-based industrial group, announced today that it has acquired the mobile data and voice services provider ice.net in Sweden.
"With a superior reach, covering 90 percent of Sweden using its leading Turbo 3G technology, ice.net delivers a unique offering to those customers who require superior broadband access outside urban areas, whether for business or leisure pursuits," said Jörg Mohaupt, head of media and telecom at Access Industries.
"Ice.net's customer offer, coupled with the strength of the underlying business, ensures a bright future for the business. Together with Teracom, our key strategic partner, we are committed to ensuring that we continue to offer our customers a differentiated, high-quality mobile broadband and telephony service," said Robert Eckert, Executive Director, ice.net Sweden.
"We're pleased that the business of ice.net will continue to offer a strong array of services to its customers. We look forward to starting a rewarding and long term partnership. The services ice.net offers secures Sweden's position as a leading broadband nation by delivering broadband access to users outside urban areas," said Crister Fritzson, CEO at Teracom.
Following the successful purchase of ice.net's Swedish and Norwegian businesses, Access is looking closely at the possibility of acquiring ice.net's business in Denmark, in order to continue ice.net's to offer seamless roaming in Scandinavia for the benefit of its customers. The acquisition in Sweden is subject to approval by PTS, the Post and Telecom Agency in Sweden.
Access is an experienced investor in both the Scandinavian market and the broader telecommunications market. Access is currently an investor in Acision, the world's leading provider of converged mobile messaging solutions for text and multimedia messaging and was previously a major investor in Bredbandsbolaget in Sweden.
About Access Industries
Access Industries is a privately held, U.S.-based industrial group with long-term holdings worldwide. Access was founded in 1986 by its Chairman, Len Blavatnik, an American industrialist. Access' industrial focus spans three key sectors: natural resources and chemicals; telecommunications and media; and real estate. (www.accessindustries.com)
About ice.net
Ice.net was established with the objective to deploy and operate premium grade mobile telecommunications networks for Mobile Telephony, Mobile Broadband, Fixed Wireless Telephony and Machine-to-Machine services. The business is based on the unique advantages achieved by combining CDMA2000 3G technology with radio transmission on the low frequency 450MHz and 410MHz bands. The networks offer cost-effective access to advanced services with close to total geographic coverage at a fraction of the investments of the current 3G operators. (www.ice.net)
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