MTS, a leading Russian mobile operator and Rostelecom, the Russian national telecommunications operator, are among the Russian companies mulling the acquisition of GNC-Alfa, Armenia’s leading operator of fiber-optic cable infrastructure.
Another candidate for the acquisition is France Telecom, Russian business daily Kommersant reported from unnamed sources. The estimated value of the company could be between $50 and $60 million.
GNC-Alfa management confirmed to Kommersant that it was in talks “with certain Russian and European companies.”
GNC-Alfa has a 1,500 km fiber-optic cable network than covers 70% of the Armenian territory. It provides fixed and mobile operators, ISPs and large corporations with transport network services and high speed Internet.
The company also recently started to offer broadband services to end users in Yerevan, the capital, under the Ucom brand. Russia’s VimpelCom, under the Beeline brand, France Telecom (Orange) and MTS (Vivacell) also compete on this market.
According to experts interviewed by Kommersant, Rostelecom and France Telecom both seek to strengthen their positions in traffic transit from Europe to Asia through Georgia and Armenia.
