Russian mobile operators MTS and Vimpelcom are considering whether to make a joint bid for Utel, the mobile unit of Ukrainian telecoms incumbent Ukrtelecom, TelecomFinance understands.
An MTS spokesman said that his company had made a bid in the tender,…
Russian mobile operators MTS and Vimpelcom are considering whether to make a joint bid for Utel, the mobile unit of Ukrainian telecoms incumbent Ukrtelecom, TelecomFinance understands.
An MTS spokesman said that his company had made a bid in the tender, but declined to give further comments. A Vimpelcom spokeswoman declined to comment.
EPIC Services Ukraine (ESU), a subsidiary of European Privatization & Investment Corporation (EPIC), acquired a 92.79% stake in Ukrtelecom in May for Hr10.575bn (US$1.3bn).
According to a well-informed source EPIC has not yet made a final decision what to do with respect to Utel. It is sounding out the options, which include potentially not selling the asset.
The chairman of Ukrtelecom, Heorthiy Dzekon, was quoted earlier in November saying that second round bids for Utel were due from 22 to 25 November. He said that he thought a decision would be made after this, according to the report in the Kyiv Post.
The sale of Utel was launched in September.
Ukrtelecom had been expected to transfer the mobile unit to a new separate entity called TriMob earlier in the year. But according to the Kyiv Post report on 1 November, Dzekon said that Utel’s assets had not been transferred to TriMob yet.
Dzekon reportedly said that the value of the assets to be transferred to TriMob was Hr736,624m (US$92.1m).
Utel was the only operator to receive a 3G licence in 2005 and since then rival mobile providers Astelit, MTS Ukraine and Kyivstar have sought to acquire 3G licences, but without success. It started offering 3G services in 2007 and reportedly had 700,000 subscribers in September.
