Euroset to Open 150 Phone Stores in Baltic States Soon

MOSCOW, Aug 7 (Prime-Tass) -- Russia's largest mobile handset retailer Euroset plans to open up to 150 outlets in the Baltic states by the end of this year, Euroset's Baltic branch Director Konstantin Levin said, Vedomosti business daily reported Monday.

In particular, Euroset wants to open 25 to 30 outlets in Estonia, 65 outlets in Lithuania and 50 outlets in Latvia by the end of this year, Levin said, the daily reported.

Euroset plans to invest 50,000 to 70,000 euros in each outlet, Levin added.

Euroset President Eldar Razroyev said that the project was likely to break even "no earlier than in 12 months," the daily reported.

Euroset plans to operate in the three countries under the Ultra brand name, the daily reported. Euroset purchased the Ultra retailer, which has over 200 stores in Russia, in late July.

Razroyev also said that Euroset planned in the future to start operating as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in the Baltic states. He did not provide an exact timeline, saying that Euroset's partner may be Latvian mobile operator Bite Latvija or Swedish mobile operator Tele2, which has business operations in the Baltic states, the daily reported.

Euroset has been testing its MVNO project in Russia for more than one year, but has not yet launched it into commercial operation.

Euroset had 3,861 outlets as of July 1. The company's 2005 revenue amounted to U.S. $2.574 billion. Euroset operates in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

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Posted to the site on 7th August 2006