MCT Corp. strikes 70m-dollar deal with MTS

MCT Corporation that operates in Russia and Central Asia under the Indigo trademark, struck a mandatory agreement with the Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) public company on the sale of its stakes in five Russian cellular service providers. According to the press service of Indigo Group, the assets to be sold to MTS include: 50 percent in Primtelefon closed corporation, 43 percent in Uraltel closed corporation, 80 percent in Mar Mobile GSM closed corporation, 50 percent in Astrakhan Mobile closed corporation and 50 percent in Volgograd Mobile closed corporation.

Since some of the above-mentioned assets are not in direct possession of MCT. Corp., they will be sold through Holland-based affiliates that are part of the Vostok Mobile Group. All mobile operators that have been introduced for sale operate in the GSM standard and take a leading stand on the cellular telecommunications market of the Far East and the Sverdlovsk region respectively. MTS will pay MCT Corp. $70m and assume some obligations in line with the deal.

MCT Corp. is a US corporation that provides cellular services in Russia and the Central Asia via 19 joint ventures. After completing the deal with MTS, MCT Corp. will have stakes in 14 mobile operators.

MTS is a Russian cellular service provider with over 11 million subscribers. Among the main shareholders of the company are the AFK Sistema holding (with 51 percent) and a German cellular operator T-Mobile (with 25 percent). MTS is authorized to provide GSM-900/1800 cellular services in 58 regions of Russia, as well as in Belarus and Ukraine.

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