Russia’s national telecom operator Rostelecom is interested in acquiring mobile operators in Russia’s neighboring countries, Alexander Provotorov, the company’s president, said yesterday during informal remarks given at the ITU Telecom World 2011 forum in Geneva.
“There isn’t much left to buy in Russia, so we are looking at CIS countries,” news agency RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.
Provorotov cautiously expressed interest in bidding for a 51% stake in the Belorussian MTS, which currently belongs to Belorussian state, with Russian operator MTS owning the remaining 49%.
Rostelecom could also “look at one or two companies in Central Asia,” he added.
But Provorotov denied any interest in Utel, the mobile subsidiary of Ukrtelekom, which Rostelecom was rumored to have bid for just two weeks ago.
Originally a fixed-line telecom operator, Rostelecom now seeks to become a leading universal operator by integrating a variety of networks and services. It recently acquired regional operators and bid for GSM licenses in several Russian regions.
Source: RIA Novosti / Digit.ru
