Last week, the Russian business daily Vedomosti reported that the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) received a joint request from mobile operator Megafon and WiMAx operator Scartel, which operates under the Yota brand, to authorize a merger.
Head of FAS Igor Artemyev stated that the merger could be authorized under the condition that Scartel makes its LTE network under deployment available to all players without any discrimination.
Should the transaction be completed, Alisher Usmanov would own a stake of more than 80% in the merged company, according to Vedomosti. Usmanov, a Russian magnate who is friendly with the Kremlin, currently owns a controlling stake in Megafon. He is also a backer of Mail.ru Group, a leading Internet group, and of DST, the top international Internet investment fund.
Sergey Adonyev and state defense technology corporation Russian Technologies, both currently shareholders of Scartel, would receive minority stakes.
Neither MTS nor Scartel did officially comment on the information.
Update June 19, 2012
FAS has authorized the potential merger, Telecom Daily reported today.
