Tigo shows interest in potential sale of ETB


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Juan Fernandez Gonzalez

| 27 January 2016




Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogotá (ETB), the public telco of Colombia's capital Bogotá may be put up for sale, with Millicom's Tigo first in line to buy it.



The new mayor and local government of the country's capital intend to sell ETB as they see it as a non-profitable company.

ETB has in fact been receiving important investments since 2012 to extend its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network, through which it offers fixed services like Internet and IPTV. But both services, especially pay-TV, have had difficulty taking off, having gathered less than 200,000 subs, of which under 60,000 pay for TV.

While political parties discuss whether to finally privatise the company or not, there are some interested parties already. According to Colombia's Portafolio, Tigo believes ETB would complement its Colombian business.

In 2013, Tigo merged with UNE-EPM to become the second largest telco in the country behind Telefónica's Movistar.

“If the opportunity appeared, Tigo-UNE would be interested in participating,” said Mauricio Ramos, Millicom's CEO, speaking to Portafolio.