Page 11 - bne_Tech_05_2020

Investment
May 2020 www.intellinews.com I Page 11
Azerbaijan's Neqsol Holding buys 49% in Georgian internet wholesaler Caucasus Online
Diversified Azerbaijani group Neqsol Holding controlled by businessman Nasib Hasanov has entered the Georgian telecommunications market by purchasing a 49% stake in Georgia’s largest internet service provider focused on the wholesale segment, Caucasus Online, Business Media reported.
Neqsol Holding founder Hasanov has become the specific owner of the Caucasus Online shares, according to a document published on the website of the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC).
Before the change of ownership, Khvicha Makatsaria, a Georgian businessman, owned 100% of Caucasus Online. Currently, his share is 51%.
Caucasus Online’s main asset is Georgia’s main channel for access to the internet.
In addition to being for a long time the largest ISP in Georgia, Caucasus Online has owned since 2008 a 1,200-km submarine fibre-optic cable laid across the bottom of the Black Sea between Georgia and Bulgaria to provide a direct, high-quality fibre-optic internet connection from Europe to Caucasus Region and the Middle East. In September 2016, Caucasus Online sold its retail business to Magticom and it is now a major wholesale operator in the region.
Caucasus Online was formed by the unification of several major Georgian ISPs in 2006 and in 2008 it merged with Telenet, the main provider of wireless and fibre-optic internet in Georgia.
According to the audit report of Caucasus Online in 2018, the company's assets amounted to
Georgian lari (GEL) 150mn ($55mn). In the same year, the company's operating earnings were GEL50mn and its operating profit was GEL6.3mn.
The Georgian company was fined for not announcing the change in its ownership structure.
In the past few months, the GNCC has been handling a case against Caucasus Online, which has been linked to the company's failure to
notify the change in ownership, Business Media said. According to the legislation, the consent
of the commission was required to make such
a significant change in the ranks of the owners. Finally, on March 12, the GNCC decided to impose a fine of GEL270,000 ($85,000) on Caucasus Online.
Neqsol Holding has already expanded in Ukraine where it operates Vodafone Ukraine network.
Neqsol Holding is an Azerbaijani energy and telecommunications holding company. It includes 100% of the assets of one of the largest mobile operators in Azerbaijan, BakCell. The company has more than 3mn subscribers in the country.
The volume of another Neqsol Holding telecommunications asset located in Ukraine is much larger: Vodafone Ukraine has 20mn subscribers. BakCell telecom company, part of Neqsol Holding, has signed an agreement with Russia's telecom operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) on the sale of its MTS operations in Ukraine, under Vodafone Ukraine, for $734mn, including deferred payments of around $84mn. The deal was performed through BakCell’s Ukrainian subsidiary Telco Solutions and Investments.