PRESS: Rostelecom in talks with officials to get control in Tele2

MOSCOW, May 4 (PRIME) -- Russian state-controlled telecom operator Rostelecom is holding consultations with officials about a directive to acquire mobile operator T2 RTK Holding, working under the Tele2 brand, business daily Vedomosti reported on Thursday citing Rostelecom’s President Mikhail Oseyevsky.

“Tele2 has almost everywhere switched to using lines of Rostelecom,” Oseyevsky told the daily. “We agreed upon the spots to place common equipment to reduce our expenses and started jointly buying commercial airtime.”

Rostelecom is negotiating with partners from T2 RTK Holding possible approaches to gain control in the mobile operator.

At present, Rostelecom owns 45% in T2 RTK Holding, and the remaining 55% are held by a consortium of VTB Bank, Bank Rossiya, and businessman Alexei Mordashov.

Sources told the daily that Bank Rossiya could sell its stake.

In late March, Yury Solovyov, first deputy chairman of VTB Bank, said that Rostelecom should raise its stake in T2 RTK Holding to a controlling one.

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