Vimpelcom building a solid South East Asian Cluster – Boris Nemsic, CEO Vimpelcom.
VimpelCom will pay about $66 million for Millicom’s 78 percent stake in Millicom Lao Co. Ltd. The remaining 22% of Millicom Lao Co., Ltd. is owned by the Government of the Lao PDR.
VimpelCom’s CEO Boris Nemsic describes the deal as, “the next logical step in our international expansion strategy” and one that “fits perfectly into our strategy of building a solid Southeast Asian cluster.”
VimpelCom already has mobile operations in Vietnam and Cambodia, having launched services in both markets in July 2008. It holds a 40 percent stake in a JV established with state-owned GTEL in Vietnam. In Cambodia, it owns 90 percent of Sotelco.
Laos has a population of 6.5 million people and low mobile penetration estimated at around 23%, thus making it attractive for Vimpelcom and an obvious choice for acquisition.
Telekom Austria CEO confirms OTE interest
Telecompaper writes…Telekom Austria CEO Boris Nemsic has confirmed his interest in Greek phone company OTE in an interview with Austrian magazine FORMAT. Nemsic said that his company was closely examining OTE, especially as both companies are active in southeast Europe. He said a merger between the two companies, through which the Greek government would take a stake in Telekom Austria, has not been discussed, insisting that it is focusing on a sale of shares in OTE by the Greek government. Nemsic said that price was not the only factor to be considered, insisting that Telekom Austria also had to consider that OTE is a very successful and well-managed company. He said that Telekom Austria was not the favourite to buy the shares being offered by the state, with global players such as Spain’s Telefonica and Germany’s Deutsche Telekom all expected to submit bids. Meanwhile, Nemsic used the interview to deny rumours that Telekom Austria could take a stake in Romanian phone company Romtelecom, currently 54 percent-owned by OTE.
