Fonecta Ltd and Hämeen Puhelin, part of the Aina Group, have completed a transaction whereby Hämeen Puhelin sold its printed telephone directory operations to Fonecta. The target of the acquisition was Hämeen Puhelin’s share of the Etelä-Häme regional directory. Last year, Fonecta acquired the printed directory operations of thirteen companies. Fonecta acquired the printed directory operations of Päijät-Hämeen Puhelin last June.
“The sale requires no action by the subscribers. Fonecta will publish the 2006 Etelä-Häme phone directory in close co-operation with Hämeen Puhelin. Fonecta will be in charge of selling the advertising space for the white pages and Suomen Keltaiset Sivut Oy for the yellow pages,” says Heikki Jämsänen, CEO of Fonecta Ltd.
The telephone directory has long traditions in Häme region. The first printed telephone directory was published in Hämeenlinna as early as 1902; since 1977 it has been known as the Etelä-Häme telephone directory.
“By selling our printed directory operations to Fonecta, we wanted to ensure that the production of the traditional and popular Etelä-Häme phone directory will continue in an effective manner. A special feature of our co-operation is the implementation of our electronic directory Seutu.net. Seutu.net is an extremely popular service among Aina Group’s Armas mobile phone subscribers,” says Seppo Lamminaho, CEO of Hämeen Puhelin Oy.
The Etelä-Häme phone directory is by far the most used printed directory in the region. It has 47,000 weekly users, which corresponds to 40% of the population in the region (Source: TNT Gallup’s Atlas survey’s section on the use of directory services 4-6/2005). This year, the Etelä-Häme directory contains 446 pages with over 65,000 phone numbers making it the largest and most exhaustive printed directory in the region.
The 2006 Etelä-Häme phone directory will be published in May with a circulation of approximately 62,500 copies. It is part of the series of 16 regional telephone directories published annually by Fonecta, Finnet Group and regional telephone companies.
All directory information provided by the Etelä-Häme phone directory will also be available from nation-wide operator-assisted directory services, including the directory numbers 02 02 02 and 118. In 2005, nearly 50 million calls were made to domestic operator-assisted directory services, of which the share of Fonecta and Finnet Group is approximately 75 %.
Further information:
Fonecta Oy, Heikki Jämsänen, CEO
Tel: +358 20 442 2100
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