We’ve already talked about Motorola’s plans to sell its Israeli mobile network – Mirs Communication, and we said Partner Communications is seen as a potential buyer for the business. All the speculations are now definitely over as Motorola has agreed to sell its iDEN-based carrier to the local cable TV operator HOT for $170 million in cash. The transaction has been made by Cool Holding, French businessman Patrick Drahi’s investment vehicle, which holds a 44% stake in HOT.
According to reports, Drahi is interested in combining Mirs and HOT to create a rival to the Israeli fixed-line incumbent – Bezeq.
For the record, Mirst is Israel’s smallest mobile network, with 582,000 connections at the end of the third quarter of 2009. That number gave the company a 6% market share…
[Via: GSMA]