ARMENIA AGREES TO RUSSIA’S BUYING 90 % STAKE IN DOMESTIC OPERATOR

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
November 14, 2006 Tuesday 11:02 PM EST

The Armenian government has approved the acquisition by Russia’s
VympelKom Beeline of a 90-percent stake in operator Armentel for 381.9
million euros, a commission on regulating the republic’s market of
services reported on Tuesday.

In early November, VympelKom reached an agreement on buying out this
stake from Greece’s Hellenic Telecommunications Organization for
341.9 million euros and Armentel’s 40-million-euro debt.

Armentel is Armenia’s operator of fixed line communications, and
a holder of licenses for providing GSM-900 and CDMA communications
services. The number of Armentel’s fixed line segment subscribers is
600,000, while GSM format users number 400,000.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress