PRESS: Russian Railways’ telecom unit can sell retail business

MOSCOW, Apr 7 (PRIME) -- TransTeleCom (TTK), a wireline operator owned by Russian Railways, could sell its retail broadband and pay TV businesses, and it has already discussed the sale with other market participants, business daily Vedomosti reported Thursday, citing several sources.

A source close to state-controlled telecom operator Rostelecom said that it has talked about the sale with TTK, but no agreements were achieved.

A source close to mobile operator MTS said that TTK negotiated the sale of retail and long-haul businesses. TTK cannot sell its long-haul network as it leases it from Russian Railways, and the companies discussed the sale of the long-haul business, which includes contracts with users, the source said.

TTK operates and services Russia’s largest fiber optic communication network with a length of more than 76,000 kilometers. The network is laid along railways, and has more than 1,000 access nodes in all 85 regions of Russia and connects West Europe with the Asia-Pacific region.

Sources at an investment bank said that construction of broadband networks had cost TTK too much: the company paid about 3,000 rubles for the last mile, or twice as much as the market average price.

According to TMT Consulting, TTK serviced 1.44 million broadband subscribers as of the end of 2015, or 5% of the market. The base expanded 4.1% on the year. The company also had 320,000 pay TV subscribers.

(68.5215 rubles – U.S. $1)

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