Russia’s three largest cellular communications operators have shown interest in receiving licenses in Iran.
Photo: Ольга Кирсанова
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Russian Cell Operators Want into Iran
Russia’s three largest cellular communications operators, MTS, VimpelCom and MegaFon, have shown interest in receiving licenses in Iran, according to that country’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology. A competition will be held at the beginning of July for a third national cellular communications license in Iran. A foreign investor will be allowed town up to 49 percent in a consortium that will own the license to provide GSM and 3G services. The operator will be required to hand at least 25 percent of its proceeds over to the government and to provide coverage to all towns with a population of 20,000 or more within five years.
MegaFon set up a subsidiary, MegaFon International, at the beginning of the year for development beyond the CIS. It has stated its interest in Iran repeatedly. It is prepared to invest about €3 billion if it wins the tender. VimpelCom general director Alexander Izosimov told journalists yesterday that the company was invited to take part in the Iranian tender, but it has not decided yet whether or not it will do so. MTS would only comment that its priority is development within the CIS.
According to the Iranian Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, there are 35.5 million cellular phone users in Iran, which is a saturation level of 50 percent. The ministry hopes to have a saturation level of 99.6 percent, with 73.08 million subscribers, by 2011. Russia has a good chance of becoming the foreign investor in the Iranian system, since it has better relations with Iran than the United States and European countries.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of June 05, 2008
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