Russia’s Tele2 halts fincl disclosures to avoid envy backlash

MOSCOW, Nov 24 (PRIME) -- Russian mobile operator T2 RTK Holding, working as Tele2, has decided to suspend disclosures of financial reports for some time to avoid negative feedback from competitors, the company’s spokesperson Konstantin Prokshin said Thursday.

“Tele2’s success in business development provokes a hard and focused reaction from other participants of the market. It creates unwanted additional risks for key business directions,” Prokshin said.

The company’s private status enables it not to release full financial and operating figures on a regular basis.

“Perhaps, we’ll resume detailed and regular disclosures of reports in the future. Until then, certain indicators of the company can be released in reports of Tele2’s shareholders,” Prokshin said.

State-owned telecom giant Rostelecom owns 45% in T2 RTK Holding, and the remaining 55% are owned by a consortium of VTB Bank, Bank Rossiya, insurance group Sogaz and businessman Alexei Mordashov.

Mass media earlier reported that T2 RTK Holding’s revenue increased 14.8% on the year to 27.2 billion–27.4 billion rubles in July–September, which makes the company the only of the top four operators, also comprising MTS, MegaFon and VimpelCom, whose revenue grew in the reported period.

(64.0087 rubles – U.S. $1)

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