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The Sean Melly controlled company has said in recent weeks that it expected to be awarded the permit, which will allow the business to provide a full range of telecommunications services, covering voice, data and Internet. The permit is governed by the Hungarian Communications Authority (HiF).
ETel is among the first operators in Hungary to be awarded a full PTO Licence, and the company said that thanks to the new licence it will now be able to accelerate its interconnect negotiations with the incumbent Matav.
"The licence is more than just a piece of paper," Melly told ElectricNews.Net. "There are both technical and economic benefits to the licence. It allows us to have an interconnect agreement with the state-run telecom, which will mean a major reduction in call charges for us by between 75 and 80 percent."
Already ETel is providing a limited range of telecommunications services to over 500 corporate customers in Budapest, with additional city expansion planned for 2002. Melly said the expansion of ETel's national network in Hungary and the new licence will help the company capture a bigger portion of the corporate business marketplace.
The company was established in 1999 and since then it has been on an acquisition and fund raising crusade. In December 2000 ETel acquired Globix to form ETel Czech Republic. In June 2001 the company acquired 100 percent of RSL COM Austria from RSL Europe Communications. Millennium Communication, another Austrian telcom, was acquired by ETel in October 2001.
Additionally, the company has said it is interested in buying the Central European operations of telecoms firm GTS, which is being acquired by KPN Qwest.
Melly is optimistic that KPN will go for the deal, but told ElectricNews.Net that the two companies are still in talks.
ETel has made previous bids for the business, which were not accepted, but if KPN does accept ETel's latest offer, the acquisition is expected to cost Melly's telecom as much as EUR224 million.
In November 2000 ETel completed an early stage investment of EUR55 million venture capital financing with four investors including Dresdner Kleinwort Benson Capital, Argus Capital Partners (Prudential of America), Greenhill Capital Partners and Intel Capital. In March 2001 it secured another EUR20 million in vendor financing.
These two vendor financing deals have left the business with what is thought to be substantial resources for further acquisitions.
Last year the company was listed in the Top 100 privately owned European companies by the American venture capital publication, Tornado Insider. It was also included in the "Technology Fast 50" report by Deloitte & Touche as one of Ireland's highest growing companies in 2000.
With operations in the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, and with 300 employees working in six countries, ETel has access to a population of 73 million potential customers.
For more information visit http://www.etel-group.com
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