GREECE’S OTE DECLINES RUMORS ARMENTEL SALE COMPLETED

Cellular-News, UK
Oct 11 2006

MOSCOW, Oct 11 (Prime-Tass) — Greece’s Hellenic Telecommunications
Organization (OTE) has denied rumors in the media that it has picked
a tender winner for its 90% stake in ArmenTel, the incumbent telecoms
operator in Armenia, OTE said in a statement Wednesday.

OTE said that the tender has not been yet completed and the company
would make an official announcement in due time.

On Monday Armenian news agency Arminfo reported, citing a source,
that a consortium from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) including
telecom company Etisalat and investment fund Istithmar, had won the
tender for the 90% stake in ArmenTel with an offer of US$600 million.

Besides Etisalat and Istithmar, Russian companies AFK Sistema and
VimpelCom have also bid for ArmenTel, as well as a consortium of VTEL
Holdings and Knightsbridge Associates, OTE said earlier.

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 stood at about 600,000
users and its mobile subscriber base at about 330,000 users, as of
mid 2006. Armenia’s population amounts to about 3.2 million people.