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Telecom
October 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 24
company’s market share dropped to 32.09% from 33.08% in July 2017.
The newest player on the market, M:Tel, gained both subscribers and market share. The com- pany’s customers increased by 8.8% y/y to 357,145
Russian state telecom major Rostelecom seeks control of Tele2
Russian state integrated telecom major Rostele- com is negotiating a deal to take a control stake in Tele2 mobile operator, Vedomosti daily reported on September 6 citing unnamed sources in the company.
Tele2 and Rostelecom united their GSM assets in 2014 by creating the T2 RTK Holding joint ven- ture that later began operating in the Moscow region as a discount operator. In 2017 Rostelecom already said it will seek control in Tele2, after Mikhail Oseevsky was appointed CEO of the state- owned operator, since until recently he was Chair- man of the BoD of VTB Bank, also one of Tele2 shareholders.
Rostelecom holds 45% in Tele2, with 55% held by Tele2 Russia Holding AB. It in turn, is controlled 50% by VTB Bank, 40% by steel tycoon Alexei Mordashov, and 10% to sanctioned Rossiya bank of Yuri Kovalchuk.
Reportedly Rostelecom could acquire about 5% of Tele2 from VTB, possibly in a non-cash deal, pay- ing with own treasury shares held by its subsidiary Mobitel worth about RUB22bn.
at end-July, while its market share rose to 31.29% from 29.9% a year earlier.
Pre-paid customers accounted for 51.32% of all users.
When Rostelecom first said it wants to gaint conrol in Tele2 "the market reacted cautiously as the mobile operator was loss-making," Aton Equity reminds on September 7, adding that the company "subsequently asserted that it would concentrate on exploiting vast synergies from cooperation rather than increasing its stake in the short-term."
However, this year while Rostelecom reported mixed results in the second quarter, its joint venture with Tele2 turned profitable in the report- ing quarter and posted a net profit of RUB1bn, while continuing to decrease leverage (net debt to Ebitda fell to 3.3x as compared to 5.4x a year ago).
The mobile virtual network operator with Tele2 reached 1mn clients soaring by 107% y/y after 292% y/y advance in the first quarter. "The operating results were also strong, indicating customer base expansion (+4% y/y), an ARPU increase of 13.3% to RUB282, and the number of active mobile internet users growing (31%)," Aton Equity commented on August 3.