Ukraine Reaffirms Mobile Phone Sale

The Ukraine government has said that it intends to sell 25% of the dominant GSM network, Ukrainian Mobile Communications (UMC) sometime in the second quarter of this year. UMC is 51% controlled by the state owned landline network Ukrtelekom, with Deutsche Telekom, TDC and KPN each holding 16.3% each.

All three of the foreign investors have previously said that they wish to sell their stakes, so there is no probability that they will partake in the floatation. The government is expecting to raise around US$100 million for the 25% stake, although it had previously wanted to sell 50% of UMC. This plan was blocked by Ukrtelekom, which itself is facing privatisation and it considers its 51% stake in UMC to be a core asset. The network finished last year with about 1 million subscribers."

Posted to the site on 27th February 2002