A spokesperson for MTS has played down reports that the company is willing to consider offers for its Ukrainian CDMA network, which its CEO has reportedly valued at about US$200m.
“[MTS Ukraine CEO Ivan Zolochevsky] was referring to a hypothetical…
A spokesperson for MTS has played down reports that the company is willing to consider offers for its Ukrainian CDMA network, which its CEO has reportedly valued at about US$200m.
“[MTS Ukraine CEO Ivan Zolochevsky] was referring to a hypothetical scenario of the sale of the CDMA network,” the spokesperson said. “We are not considering any specific offering.”
Reports had quoted the CEO as stating the company is considering selling or leasing out the network, via which it offers its ‘MTS Connect 3G’ wireless broadband service. Zolochevsky referred to the lack of end-user devices suitable for the network’s 450MHz bandwidth, the reports stated.
The spokesperson said that while company policy prohibits comment on M&A transactions, MTS Ukraine has never considered its CDMA service “a product of massive demand given its limited growth potential”.
“CDMA helped MTS to meet our customers’ demand for data services in the absence of a full-fledged 3G network. If we receive an offer from a potential buyer we would be willing to consider this, but nothing is on the table yet.”
Zolochevsky reportedly said the service has about 300,000 subscribers.
Part of the Russian MTS group, MTS Ukraine is the Eastern European nation’s second largest mobile operator with more than 18.2 million subscribers. The company also offers GSM-based network services in the 900MHZ and 1800MHz ranges.
