Russia’s antitrust regulator has cleared Rostelecom’s request to acquire up to 50% of the holding company that owns Tele2 Russia, bringing the operators a step closer to their planned joint venture.
The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has also…
Russia’s antitrust regulator has cleared Rostelecom’s request to acquire up to 50% of the holding company that owns Tele2 Russia, bringing the operators a step closer to their planned joint venture.
The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has also approved T2 Rus Holding’s appeal to buy some of Rostelecom mobile assets.
These include up to 50% of the voting shares of Sky Link, nearly 95% of the voting shares of Agos, and 100% of the voting shares of Baikalwestcom, Wireless Information Technologies, Volgograd-GSM, Eniseytelecom and Nizhny Novgorod Cellular Communication.
A Rostelecom spokesperson confirmed the FAS approval, but declined to comment further until the deal is finalised. A Tele2 Russia spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.
State-controlled Rostelecom and Tele2 Russia are working to merge their mobile assets which should enable them to compete better with the nation’s three largest operators: MTS, MegaFon and VimpelCom. Last month, Rostelecom CEO Sergei Kalugin told reporters his company aims to strike a deal by year-end.
Rostelecom’s board of directors recently approved key components of the company’s new strategy through to 2018, asking the management team to submit a final version at the next board meeting. Shareholders will be asked to approve the telco’s spinoff of its mobile assets into a new, wholly-owned subsidiary called RT Mobile at an EGM on 30 December. RT Mobile will reportedly then be sold to T2 Rus Holding.
