State-owned Corvinus International Investment acquired an indirect minority stake in operator Yettel Hungary, with the country’s government vowing to push development of the communications sector more forcefully and efficiently with its increased influence.

In a statement published on the Hungarian government website, it claimed the increase in its role in the country’s telecommunications sector would provide benefits for customers, aid economic performance and up international competitiveness.

The acquisition takes the form of a so-called share exchange with Antenna Hungaria, a subsidiary of 4iG Group, which bought Vodafone Group’s operations in Hungary earlier this year together with Corvinus.

Under this latest agreement, Corvinus exchanged 19.5 per cent of its interest in Vodafone Hungary for the 25 per cent stake in PPF Telecom Group‘s subsidiaries in the country owned by the 4iG unit. This comprised Yettel Hungary, its related wholesale infrastructure business and property company.

As a result of the swap, Antenna Hungaria has no remaining interest in Yettel Hungary, but owns an increased 70.5 per cent stake in Vodafone Hungary.

Corvinus retains the rest of Vodafone Hungary.

GSMA Intelligence connection figures for Q4 2022 place the Vodafone- and Yettel-branded operators as the second- and third-largest in Hungary with close to 3 million each. The market is led by Deutsche Telekom subsidiary Magyar Telekom with 5.2 million connections.