Page 24 - bne_newspaper_June_29_2018

Weekly Lists
June 29, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 24
bne:TMT Communicorp Group
sells six Bulgarian radio stations to local management
Irish Communicorp Group is exiting Bulgaria after selling its six radio stations in the country to the local management, the Dublin based group said on June 22.
Communicorp CEO Adrian Serle said the group was pulling out to focus on its core businesses in Ireland and the UK. However, local daily Dnevnik also attributes the decision to the declining advertis- ing market in Bulgaria.
The company owned some of the most popular radio stations in the country — BG Radio, Nova, Energy, Radio 1, Radio 1 Rock, Veronica and the radio and TV station City.
Following the sale, there is only one international media owner left in the country — Czech Republic-based broadcaster Central Euro- pean Media Enterprises (CME), which holds the second largest TV station bTV.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on June 25 urged German technology companies to publicly disclose whether they are considering sales to the government of Turkmenistan and whether technology sold by them is being used by the country to block websites and carry out surveillance.
HRW’s statement follows reports from earlier in 2018 that a senior vice president at major German technology firm Rohde and Schwarz met with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. According to HRW’s sources, the government was seeking technol- ogy for monitoring and blocking mobile and satellite communica- tions, enabling the government to block internet access. Turkmenistan’s government maintains a tight grip on internet access in the country, censors the media and represses dissent.
Chinese Huawei for the first time topped the smartphone sales in Russia taking the leadership from Korean Samsung for the first time in a decade, Vedomosti daily reported on June 26 citing the data of electronics retailers.
From May 28 to June 17 Huawei and its sub-brand Honor was leading the sales, with weekly market share at 23.8%-26.5%, versus 22.9%-23.2% for Samsung.
Samsung has been the leader in smartphone sales in Russia since 2007, and until recently was followed by Apple. Back in February 2018 Huawei only had a market share of 17.4%.
Human Rights Watch urges German
tech companies to disclose information on transactions with Turkmen government
Huawei beats Samsung on Russian smartphone market for the first time