TeliaSonera in talks over MegaFon
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News
Nordic telecoms giant TeliaSonera confirmed yesterday reports it was in talks with Moscow-based Altimo and AF Telecom over ownership of Russia’s second-largest mobile phone operator MegaFon. Privately-held MegaFon had 62.8 million subscribers at the end of 2011 but its future has been increasingly unclear as its various shareholders jostle for position.A deal between Usmanov and Altimo would likely be a blow to TeliaSonera, which in 2009 had agreed with Altimo to merge their stakes in MegaFon as well as in Turkey’s Turkcell. TeliaSonera currently holds 43.8 percent of MegaFon -35.6 percent directly and 8.2 percent through a stake in another company, Telecominvest. AF Telecom owns 31.3 percent, Altimo owns 25.1 percent of MegaFon.
