Belarus makes no decision yet to sell MTS

MINSK, April 21 (Itar-Tass) -- Belarus has so far made no final
decision on the sale of its strake in the Belarusian-Russian joint venture
Mobile TeleSystems (MTS).
"The question of selling the Belarusian share is being studied both by
the government and the State Property Committee. Only time will show what
the situation is going to be like," Deputy Minister of Communications and
Informatisation Sergei Nesterovich said.
Earlier, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Minsk was
ready to sell its stake in MTS for one billion U.S. dollars. Later the
Belarusian government said it would put up its 51-percent stake for an
international tender.
The joint venture was created by Belarusian Beltelcom (51 percent of
the authorised capital), and Russian Mobile TeleSystems (49 percent). The
Russian side is interested to buy controlling interest in the joint
venture.
According to MTS's website, it is the leading telecommunications group
in Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, offering mobile and fixed
voice, broadband, pay TV as well as content and entertainment services in
one of the world's fastest growing regions. As of December 31, 2009, the
Group and its subsidiaries serviced over 102.4 million mobile subscribers
in Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia and Belarus, a
region that boasts a total population of more than 230 million.