Ukraine's Astelit Owners to Invest $300 Mln More in Company

KIEV, Mar 5 (Prime-Tass) -- Turkish mobile operator Turkcell and Ukraine's Sistema Capital Management, owners of Ukraine?s third largest mobile operator Astelit, are expected to raise investment in the operator by US$300 million, Astelit said Monday.

Last week, the Ukrainian mobile operator announced a default on its outstanding $465.371 million long-term debt.

Turkcell and Sistema Capital Management sent a guarantee letter to Astelit's creditors promising to make the investment, Astelit said.

No details on the investment were available.

Astelit is fully owned by the Netherlands-based Eurasia Telecommunications Holdings, which is 54.8% owned by Turkcell and 45.2% owned by Sistema Capital Management.

Astelit's subscriber base more than doubled to 5.55 million people last year and was at 5.74 million people as of January 31.

The operator launched service under the "life:)" brand name in January 2005 and currently provides coverage over an area inhabited by 90% of Ukraine?s population resides.

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Posted to the site on 5th March 2007