PRESS: Crimea’s K Telecom owned by Lebanese investor Fattouch

MOSCOW, Aug 18 (PRIME) -- Crimea’s only cellular operator K Telecom is owned by Lebanese investor Pierre Michel Fattouch, a long-term partner of Russian mobile operator MTS in Armenia, business daily Vedomosti reported Tuesday, quoting several sources.

An MTS spokesperson could not confirm the information.

K Telecom had a 4.1 billion ruble revenue and a net profit of 2.1 billion rubles in 2014. The operator was registered in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar in May 2014 and received Crimean frequencies, earlier used by MTS Ukraine, a unit of MTS.

The operator started providing services on the peninsula in August 2014 and built 1,500 base stations. A direct entrance of other Russian operators on the Crimean market is aggravated by risks of facing Western sanctions.

(65.5034 rubles – U.S. $1)

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