PRESS: RUSSIA’S VIMPELCOM BIDS FOR 90% IN ARMENIA’S ARMENTEL

Cellular-News, UK
June 8 2006

MOSCOW, June 8 (Prime-Tass) — Russia?s second largest mobile
operator VimpelCom has filed a bid to participate in the tender of
a 90% stake in Armenian fixed-line and mobile operator ArmenTel,
Vedomosti business daily reported Thursday.

The stake is currently owned by Greece’s OTE, which said in late April
that it planned to sell the stake. The remaining 10% in ArmenTel is
held by the Armenian government

Besides VimpelCom, seven more companies have filed bids for ArmenTel,
including Russia’s MTS and MegaFon, the daily said, citing MDM Bank.

ArmenTel has a monopoly on fixed-line and long-distance services in
Armenia. The company also had a monopoly on mobile services until
mid-2005. ArmenTel’s fixed-line subscriber base stands at about
600,000 users and its mobile subscriber base at about 330,000 users.

Armenia’s population amounts to about 3.2 million people, of which
about 20% use mobile services.