MegaFon, a major Russian mobile operator, has confirmed its acquisition of St. Petersburg Internet provider Web Plus last June, according to the company’s quarterly results. Megafon bought the loss making firm, which owns $4 million in debt, for $2.5 million.
The seller was Telecominvest, which itself owns a 31.3% stake in MegaFon, and in which Alisher Usmanov, a prominent Russian businessman, owns a 73.9% stake, reports ComNews.ru, a Russian online resource covering the telecom and IT sectors.
Mr Usmanov also has stakes in DST, a major Russian investment fund and in leading Internet player Mail.ru Group.
Several years previously, Web Plus was the largest broadband Internet access provider in St. Petersburg. Since 2007, however, the company’s market share has fallen ten times to 1.5%, and its revenues have likewise fallen by more than two times. Currently the company serves about 20,000 connections, most of which are linked via outdated ADSL technology.
MegaFon, which has ambitions to become a ‘universal telecom operator,’ also acquired NetByNet in June for approximately $270 million. NetByNet is a fixed broadband Internet, digital TV and IP telephony operator in Moscow and a number of regions.
In June 2010, MegaFon acquired Synterra, a company with a large terrestrial and satellite telecommunications infrastructure.
