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MTS and MegaFon recieve approval to buy SMARTS (Russia)

  • October 20th, 2008
  • 5:14 am

The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service approves MTS’ and MegaFon’s request to acquire Russia telecom company SMARTS. The anti trust watchdog has also set some structural requirements for the SMARTS’ would-be buyers.
For the following acquisition the requests were filed by MegaFon and MTS on September 5 and mid-August respectively.
   

MTS requests approval for a takeover of SMARTS (Russia)

  • August 18th, 2008
  • 1:57 pm

MTS, Russia’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, filed a request with the Federal Anti-monopoly Service in order to gain approval for a takeover of smaller rival SMARTS Group.

SMARTS, which has only over 4million subscribers in the Volga region, is looking for a buyer for some time now. According to the firms recent statement the buyer is likely to be one of Russia’s big three cellular operators – MTS, Vimpelcom or MegaFon and the is deal expected to be valued at around USD1 billion-USD1.5 billion.

   

SMARTS Gets Smart With New Mobile Media Service for the Idle-screen (Russia)

  • December 18th, 2007
  • 12:21 pm

Russian operator SMARTS today announced the launch of a new interactive mobile media service, NewsCOM. The service will transform the mobile phone of SMARTS’ three million subscribers into a personal interactive billboard to provide an exciting new content service to customers whilst raising ARPU for the operator. The service will promote new content available on NewsCOM information channels by broadcasting messages across subscribers’ idle-screen. By clicking on the message, users are taken to a menu where they can discover rich content such as news, sports results, horoscopes, ring tones and music.

NewsCOM is a live broadcasting service and, as such, needs to be creatively edited and refreshed regularly to ensure users find value in the service. Celltick, the pioneer of active mobile marketing solutions, has been appointed to manage the service because of its extensive knowledge and experience in using the LiveScreen Media platform. Celltick will be responsible for increasing ARRU for SMARTS, managing the full solution including editorial content, programming and content alliances. Looking ahead, NewsCOM will also be used as a compelling mobile marketing platform. With a reach capacity of over 160 million users and over 35 million monthly transactions, Celltick’s LiveScreen Media offers a significant marketing opportunity to advertisers.

Andrey Girev, CEO SMARTS said: “Providing personalised services for our customers is a key strategy at SMARTS. The introduction of a globally successful platform such as Celltick’s LiveScreen Media signifies our commitment to providing our customers with the best technology and services. We are confident our subscribers will enjoy active content discovery on NewsCOM.” Stephen Dunford, CEO of Celltick said: “LiveScreen Media has now been deployed by more than 25 mobile operators across the globe. Leading operators including SMARTS have realised the potential of our cost-effective mass-reach platform. It is an effective tool for raising revenue while providing a valuable service for subscribers, which is important in the competitive mobile market.”

   

 

Sky Link big winner in Siberia GSM licence tender (Russia)

  • October 23rd, 2007
  • 2:02 pm

VimpelCom and Summa Telecom failed to secure any GSM licences in the most recent tender for thirteen licences in five Siberian regions, Russian news site Cnews reports. Sky Link subsidiary Novosibirskaya Sotovaya Svyaz – 450 has won licences for 1800MHz services in all regions excluding the Irkutsk region, while Sibirtelecom’s subsidiary Baikalvestcom won 1800MHz licences in the Chita region, Aginsko-Buryatsky region and both 1800MHz and 900MHz licences in the Ust-Ordynsky region. Svyazinvest company Akos further secured a licence in the Aginsko-Buryatsky region, Tele2 Kemerovo won a licence for the Tomsk region and Vladivostok New Telephone won a 1800MHz licence in the Aginsko-Buryatsky region and a 900/1800MHz licence in the Ust-Ordynsky region. Sky Link put in eleven bids for itself and daughter companies in various regions. MegaFon entered 8 bids while VimpelCom and MTS each entered 3 bids. Other bidders included Volgatelecom, Smarts, as well as new entrants Strimton, FirmaGeocom and Summa Telecom. The latter already won some licences in the Far East and the Ural in earlier tenders.

   

Svyazinvest mulls wireless sale

  • June 26th, 2007
  • 1:31 pm

Russia’s state-backed telecoms holding group Svyazinvest is considering the sale of its mobile assets, although the move is likely to be blocked by some shareholders. A report from Cnews quotes Svyazinvest director general Alexander Kiselev, who says: ‘Not having a licence for the 3G mobile network, our mobile assets have no prospects in the market; that is why they should be sold.’ He believes that the peak market value will be reached within the next eighteen months, with analysts estimating the combined sale price at between USD1.5 billion and USD3 billion.

Svyazinvest is Russia’s largest fixed line operator, offering services via seven mega-regional subsidiaries plus long-distance arm Rostelecom. Four of the regional operators – Volgatelecom, Sibirtelecom, Uralsvyazinform and Dalsvyaz – also provide GSM cellular services, although their combined subscriber base of just over ten million represents only around 6.5% of the total Russian mobile market. Local press reports claim the country’s second largest cellular operator by subscribers, Vimpelcom, is interested in acquiring the mobile assets of Dalsvyaz, while the Volga regional operator SMARTS is linked with the Volgatelecom GSM networks.

The move to sell off the cellular networks may run into opposition from other shareholders though. The Sistema group, whose 51% subsidiary Comstar UTS holds a blocking stake of 25% plus one share in Svyazinvest, has suggested that the mobile assets should be merged into a single operation which can then enlarge its footprint via wholesale network sharing deals or through spectrum acquisitions. Three firms have national 3G concessions in Russia – Vimpelcom, MTS and MegaFon.

   

SMARTS posts first quarter profit

  • May 15th, 2007
  • 6:14 am

Russian regional mobile operator SMARTS has posted a first-quarter net profit of RUB1.68 million (USD65,000), reversing a loss of RUB125 million (USD4.8 million) in the first three months of last year. Revenues for the quarter were up 25.6% year-on-year at RUB755.2 million, while gross profit increased 54% to RUB251 million. SMARTS group operates in the Volga region and had 3.75 million subscribers at the end of March.