Reports from Slovakia suggest that the country’s fourth mobile licensee SWAN is to launch services in cooperation with the national postal operator Slovak Post (Slovenska Posta). According to the Slovak Spectator, SWAN plans to inaugurate its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network on 13 March, and the operator is already testing LTE services in the city of Trnava. ‘Slovenska Posta is the company with the biggest distribution network in Slovakia and exactly because of this we have chosen it as a partner for this project,’ Zuzana Hanova from the marketing department at SWAN Mobile was quoted as saying.
The new operator is to be dubbed ‘Postatel’, with Slovak Post entitled to take a 20% share in the firm, although it may delay entry to Postatel’s shareholders for up to two years. Under the terms of its licence, SWAN must have coverage of one-fifth of Slovakia’s population by 25 March with its own networks; if this target is achieved, the operator will then be entitled to sign national roaming agreements with the country’s three existing cellcos, Orange Slovensko, Slovak Telekom and O2 Slovakia.
