Citizens of Armenia will know the new owner of “ArmenTel” either by late July or beginning of August. Only four companies are eligible to apply for purchase of “Armentel”, including Russian “VimpelCom” (BiLine) and Mobile Telesystems (MTS) companies, “Emirates Telecommunication Corporation” and Indian “VTEL Holdings”.
OTE does not give any information concerning the “VTEL Holdings”. Recently Armenian and Russian newspapers published information about the mentioned company. According to one of those editions, “VTEL Holdings” company is registered as “Sargis Group”, its central office is located in London and belongs to Armenian former prime minister, former Ambassador to England, Armen Sargsyan. We wonder why OTE keeps this information confidential. There are rumors saying that the company has a good potential to buy “Armentel”, and only the company from UAE offered more money for buying it.
Russian newspapers write that the potential buyer is a Russian company. There is also information concerning the estimations of some Russian experts. Taking into account the fact that the Armenian communication field is divided between Armentel and VivaCell and the fact that “Armentel” received an annual income worth $145,3 million in 2005, the experts of Russian “Aton” company say that “Armentel” may increase the income of “MTS” by 3,6%, and the incomes of “VimpelCom” – by 2,6%. “According to our calculations, mobile communications provides almost 30% of incomes of “Armentel”, and the company purchasing “Armentel” may decide to sell its share of stable communication. According to our estimations, the sum offered for the package (350 million) is a normal price”, say Russian experts. Are the Russians hinting that they don’t need the Armenian stable communication? If so, there may be competition for purchasing the stabile communication share of “Armentel”. According to the Russian “Renaissance capital” company, MTS and BiLine will compete too.
Armenian and Russian experts differ in their estimations. According to Armenian specialists, the price of “Armentel” ranges from 350-450 million and 290-350 million according to Russian experts. There is no need to rush; OTE and HSBC will inform us in a month.