Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
April 6, 2006 Thursday 1:26 PM EET
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Greece’s OTE plans to sell 90% in Armenia’s ArmenTel

MOSCOW, April 6 (Prime-Tass) – Greece’s OTE plans to sell its 90%
stake in Armenian fixed-line and mobile operator ArmenTel, Kommersant
business daily reported Thursday, citing OTE’s statement.

OTE has chosen HSBC Bank as its financial adviser for the sale. OTE
did not disclose information on the funds it wants to raise from the
sale or the timeline of the sale.

A source close to ArmenTel told the daily that Russian mobile
operators VimpelCom and MegaFon have showed interest in buying the
stake.

“ArmenTel is a very attractive asset, and if the price is right we
will be interested in buying it,” MTS’ President Vasily Sidorov told
Vedomosti business daily.

ArmenTel is a fixed-line and long-distance monopoly in Armenia. It
also had a monopoly on mobile services until mid-2005. ArmenTel’s
fixed-line subscriber base stands at about 595,000 users and its
mobile subscriber base at about 320,000 users.

K Telecom is Armenia’s other mobile operator controlling about 50% of
the market, Vedomosti said. Armenia’s population amounts to about 3.2
million people.