Providence eyes Bulgaria’s BTC

The US investment company Providence Equity Partners has emerged as the frontrunner to buy a majority (65%) stake in the incumbent Bulgarian telco BTC. It is currently owned by the Icelandic entrepreneur Thor Bjorgolfsson’s Novatur Holdings and has attracted interest from several parties including Turkey’s Turk Telekom and Turkcell. Providence Equity Partners are understood to have offered €1.9 billion for the stake. Separately, the Bulgarian cable operator Eurocom is reported to have asked permission from the country’s regulatory authorities to take over Centrum Group Cable, another operator based in the capital, Sofia. Eurocom plans to start rolling out triple play services in Sofia and Plovdiv in Q2 this year. New electronic communications legislation in Bulgaria will meanwhile see the limit for which aerial, as opposed to underground, cable TV systems are allowed increased from the current 3,000 to 10,000 households within population centres. (CD)