Proximus
Proximus, also known as Belgacom Mobile, is the largest of Belgium's three mobile telecommunications operators. It competes with Mobistar, owned by France Télécom, and Base, a subsidiary of Dutch KPN.
History
Proximus was founded in 1994 as a joint-venture between Belgacom, 75 %, and Airtouch, 25 %, respectively. Airtouch was later merged with Vodafone.
Starting January 1994, Proximus took over the operatorship of the old MOB2 analog network, as well as the new second generation GSM network, originally only in the GSM 900 range. The obsolete MOB2 network was retired in 1999. When necessary, Proximus can also use GSM 1800 to complement its network.
It was originally a de facto monopoly, but after deregulation Mobistar, a second GSM 900 operator soon joined the game in 1998, followed by BASE, then known as KPN-Orange in 1999.
Proximus has just a little over 45 % of the market now considered as saturated.
Company
Proximus NV/SA is a subsidiary of Belgacom NV/SA, which had an IPO in 2004 but remains more than 50 % state owned. A 25 % share was owned by the Vodafone Group until 2006, when Vodafone agreed to sell its stake to Belgacom. In 2004, it had a revenue of € 2,239 million and an EBITDA of € 1,135 million.
Technical information
The operator's display logo is PROXIMUS, the net code is 206 01 and operates under GSM 900/1800 (2G GSM) net and W-CDMA 2100 (3G UTMS) frequencies. Its prepaid service is called Pay&Go.
Mobile virtual network operator
The Proximus network is used by a number of mobile virtual network operators: Ugly Duck (Belgacom), TMF Mobile (MTV), Mobisud (Belgacom), IDT Mobile.
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