Telenor sued……. again
Norwegian telecoms group Telenor’s Russian unit is being sued for USD3.8 billion in a Siberian court by a minority shareholder in Russian mobile network operator Vimpelcom. It follows a nearly identical claim for USD1 billion made by Eco Telecom, part of Russia’s Alfa Group, in March. A Telenor news release said ‘The lawsuit’s claims against Telenor are that Telenor harmed Vimpelcom by preventing Vimpelcom from purchasing [Ukranian mobile operator] Kyivstar and delaying Vimpelcom’s purchase of [another GSM operator] Ukrainian Radio Systems’. The latest suit was filed by Farimex Products, a British Virgin Islands company, but court records did not reveal who owns the company. Farimex only owns shares worth USD800,000 making it hard to see how it can justify claiming USD3.8 billion in damages.
In August 2007 Telenor won an arbitration case in a New York court, which ordered Alfa Group to either sell its 43.5% share in Kyivstar or reduce stakes in certain other competing operators. Alfa chose to comply with the latter option by reducing its minority stake in Turkey’s Turkcell (the majority owner of Ukrainian cellco Astelit), and agreeing to sell its entire stake in WiMAX operator Ukrainian High Technologies (aka Alternet). Telenor owns 56.5% of Kyivstar, and holds 33.6% of the common stock of Vimpelcom, which is 37% owned by Alfa through its telecoms arm Altimo.
Minority shareholder sues Telenor for €2.37bn
Telenor’s Russian unit has been sued for €2.37 billion (US$3.8 billion) in a Siberian court in the lastest development in a long legal battle, an Associated Press report said. The Norwegian operator’s Russian business is accused of damaging another Russian mobile operator, VimpelCom, by one of the latter’s minority shareholders.
Telenor said in a statement that it saw no merit in the suit, which follows an almost identical claim for €625,000 (US$1 billion) made by Eco Telecom, part of Russia’s Alfa Group, in March.
Telenor is locked in a struggle with Alfa Group, the main owner of Russia’s OAO Vimpel Communications, over Vimpelcom wanting to buy the Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar GSM, in which Telenor holds a controlling stake.
“The lawsuit’s claims against Telenor are that Telenor harmed VimpelCom by preventing VimpelCom from purchasing Kyivstar and delaying VimpelCom’s purchase of Ukrainian Radio Systems,” the statement said.
The latest suit was filed in Khanty-Mansiysk, a remote town in Siberia 2,759 km (1,714 miles) from Moscow by Farimex Products, a British Virgin Islands company. Telenor noted that the court records did not reveal who owns Farimex Products.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Digicel surpasses 6 mln GSM customers in 2007 (British Virgin Islands)
Caribbean-based mobile telecommunications operator Digicel ended 2007 with more than 6 million customers. The company has also announced that its total investment exceeded USD 1.9 billion across the region and it has also opened new business operations in Suriname, Guyana and El Salvador. In December 2007, Digicel was also granted a mobile licence to operate a GSM network in the British Virgin Islands. The company also introduced a new line of mobile handsets called Coral that is accessible to consumers across almost all Digicel markets. Digicel is also expanding its customer offerings, continuing to roll out technology services such as its Personal Broadband Service through WiMAX technology.
Digicel wins third GSM licence in BVI (British Virgin Islands)
The Caribbean wireless operator Digicel has won a licence to offer GSM mobile services in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). The firm says it has earmarked USD15 million as an initial investment into what will be its 24th market, and it plans to deploy a network with 100% population coverage. Digicel joins the two existing cellular operators in BVI: CCT Global and Cable & Wireless (C&W) subsidiary bMobile; C&W retains a monopoly in the fixed line sector.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Dhaka’s long wait for new phone operator nearly over? (Bangladesh)
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) says it is planning to grant licences to private fixed line network operators in the capital Dhaka by the end of this month. ‘We are prepared to issue licences to private [land line] companies to operate in the central zone (the designated telecoms zone including the city). We expect to offer the licences by the end of this month,’ BTRC Chairman Major General (Retired) Manjurul Alam told reporters. ‘All of the companies are interested to operate in Dhaka as the profit margin is higher here. We will tag a condition that any company interested to operate in Dhaka is obliged to expand their activities nationwide and this is mandatory,’ said the chairman. Any company failing to expand its activities outside Dhaka as per its plan submitted to the Commission will face a heavy fine, he added. The authority is yet to publish final details of licence fees and the number of concessions up for grabs. The BRTC also confirmed that it would not renew any existing licence of operators that had failed to launch services in the city presumably referring to WorldTel, the British Virgin Islands-registered firm which was issued with a fixed licence concession in July 2001 but has delayed a promised launch of CDMA WiLL-based limited mobility PSTN services ever since. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, despite the successful licensing and launch of a host of new fixed line and fixed-wireless operators in all other areas of the country, an estimated 250,000 Dhaka residents are still waiting for a fixed connection, with incumbent Bangladesh Telegraph & Telephone Board (BTTB) unable to meet demand. The central metropolitan zone, covering Dhaka city, Zinjira, Savar, Narayanganj, Gazipur and Tongi, accounts for over half of Bangladesh’s telecoms demands, according to the BTRC. According to GlobalComms, provincial private WiLL operators itching to meet the ready demand in the capital include Telebarta (Jubok Phone), National TeleCom (NationalPhone), Peoples Telecom (PeoplesTel), GEP Telecom, OneTel Communications, Ranks Telecom (RanksTel), Jalalabad Telecom (Bijoy Phone), Banglaphone, Westec (Bay Phones) and SA Telecom.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Cukurova says it will repay debt to Alfa
Telegeography writes….Turkey’s Cukurova Holding has said it will repay an outstanding debt of USD1.35 billion to Russia’s Alfa Group before the original maturity of the loan expires, news agency Ihlas reports. Alfa had called on Cukurova to repay the debt earlier this week. Alfa had earlier said it had applied to a British Virgin Islands court to seize Cukurova’s stake in Turkcell, Turkey’s leading mobile operator, whilst Cukurova previously said Alfa had no right to demand payment before 25 November. In March 2005 debt-laden Cukurova agreed to sell all its shares in Turkcell to TeliaSonera, another shareholder in Turkcell, for USD3.1 billion, but Altimo, Alfa Group’s mobile arm, offered to lend Cukurova USD1.7 billion in loans and in return took a 13.22% stake in Turkcell. As a result, Cukurova canceled its agreement with TeliaSonera and signed a new agreement with Alfa.
Cukurova’s decision to offer shares to Alfa Group in 2005 sparked legal action by TeliaSonera. In late January 2007 an international arbitration court ruled in TeliaSonera’s favour, ordering Cukurova to annul the Alfa sale and offer the shares to TeliaSonera for USD3.1 billion. Such a move would see TeliaSonera increase its direct and indirect stake in Turkcell to around 64%.
Bermuda wants IPOC in liquidation
Telegeography writes…The government of Bermuda has asked the country’s Supreme Court to place locally-based investment firm IPOC into liquidation as a result of an audit of its finances. A Prime Tass report, which cites Bermuda’s Royal Gazette, says the country’s Finance Minister wants the court to liquidate IPOC and eight of its affiliates. IPOC is the owner of an 8% stake in Russia’s third largest cellular operator MegaFon and is also at the centre of a row over the ownership of another 25.1% stake.
On 5 August 2003 Alfa-Eco, a part of the Alfa Group, acquired LV Finance, which owned 25.1% of MegaFon through two companies — Transcontinental Mobile Investment and CT-Mobile. In September the following year an international tribunal ruled that Bermuda-based mutual fund IPOC International should have been given first option to buy LV Finance’s stake as an existing shareholder. In March 2005 MegaFon’s other shareholders, TeliaSonera and Telecominvest, signed an agreement with IPOC to say they would strengthen their working relationship and ensure transparency in MegaFon’s business. All three were jointly refuting the claim made by the Alfa Group that it had an interest in MegaFon. However, in September 2005 a court of appeals in the British Virgin Islands ruled that Alfa did after all have a right to the stake and this was upheld by an arbitration tribunal in Zurich. IPOC is continuing its legal battle to have its option agreement validated so that it can claim the 25.1% stake.
Court rejects Norwegian co. Telenor’s lawsuit vs. VimpelCom
Moscow’s Arbitration Court upheld Wednesday VimpelCom’s [RTS: VIMP] purchase of a 100% stake in mobile operator Ukrainian Radio Systems.
The court rejected Norwegian company Telenor’s lawsuit against the Russian telecommunications giant, seeking to invalidate the decision to buy URS, which had been backed by VimpelCom’s shareholders.
The ruling is the latest step in a long-running dispute between the two main shareholders in Russia’s second-largest mobile operator VimpelCom – Norway’s Telenor and Russia’s Alfa Group – over Vimpelcom’s move into the Ukrainian market.
The URS buyout had the backing of Alfa Group, but Telenor called the move illegal. The companies also clashed in February over Vimpelcom’s purchase of another Ukrainian operator, Kyivstar.
VimpelCom is majority owned by Telenor and Altimo, the telecoms arm of financial major Alfa Group.
Telenor holds 26.6% of shares in VimpelCom, Russia’s second-largest operator, best known for the Beeline trademark. Alfa Group’s telecoms arm Altimo (previously Alfa Telecom) holds a 32.9% stake.
Telenor and Alfa Group filed applications with the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service in the summer of 2005 seeking to increase their stakes in VimpelCom.
Alfa Group had backed a VimpelCom deal to acquire Ukraine’s URS for $231.3 million. Telenor opposed the deal, saying it was overpriced.
The deal went through in the fall of 2005, and in January 2006 Telenor filed three lawsuits with the Moscow Arbitration Court against VimpelCom to challenge the deal.
In its first lawsuit, Telenor demanded the annulment of a decision by a VimpelCom shareholders’ meeting on September 14, 2005, to approve the URS acquisition. The court rejected this lawsuit May 15, and Telenor said June 21 it would appeal its ruling.
The second lawsuit was filed against VimpelCom and five other companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and Cyprus, and an individual who Telenor claimed had sold the Ukrainian company. The Norwegian giant said the deal breached Russian legislation.
The third suit sought the annulment of a decision made by VimpelCom Director General Alexander Izosimov to close the deal without permission from the board of directors.
Source- en.rian Wireless Mobile Telecom
Court upholds VimpelCom’s Ukraine phone purchase deal
A Moscow court upheld Thursday a decision by Russian cell phone company VimpelCom [RTS: VIMPG] to acquire a Ukrainian mobile operator.In a long-running dispute, the Moscow Arbitration Court upheld an appellate court’s ruling on rejecting an appeal by Norwegian telecom company Telenor to invalidate a decision by VimpelCom’s shareholders to approve the acquisition of Ukrainian Radio Systems, a leading cell phone operator in Ukraine.
VimpelCom, Russia’s second largest mobile phone operator, is majority owned by Telenor and Altimo, the telecoms arm of financial major Alfa Group, and is best known for the Beeline trademark, one of the most popular mobile operators in the country.
Telenor holds 26.6% of shares in VimpelCom, while Altimo (previously Alfa Telecom) holds a 32.9% stake. Telenor and Alfa Group filed applications with the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service in the summer of 2005 seeking to increase their stakes in VimpelCom.
The conflict between Telenor and Alfa Group first erupted over VimpelCom’s plans to enter the Ukrainian cell phone market. Alfa Group supported a VimpelCom deal to acquire Ukrainian Radio Systems for $231.3 million. Telenor came out against the deal, saying it was overpriced. The deal went through in the fall of 2005, and in January 2006 Telenor filed three lawsuits with the Moscow Arbitration Court against VimpelCom to challenge the deal.
In its first lawsuit, Telenor demanded the annulment of a decision by a VimpelCom shareholder meeting on September 14, 2005, to approve a deal to buy Ukrainian Radio Systems. The court rejected this suit on May 15 and Telenor said on June 21 it would appeal its ruling.
The second lawsuit was filed against VimpelCom, Russia’s first company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, five other companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and Cyprus, and an individual who Telenor claimed had sold the Ukrainian company. The Norwegian giant said the deal breached Russian legislation.
The third suit sought the annulment of a decision made by VimpelCom Director General Alexander Izosimov to close the deal without permission from the board of directors.
Source- rian
