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Russia: Antitrust head supports mega telecom buyout

By  |  April 25, 2013

The head of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service has vocalized his support for a potential telecommunications merger that would result in a new, fourth major player to compete in the market. According to reports, FAS head Igor Artemyev referred to the nation’s “big three” players Mobile TeleSystems, MegaFon and VimpelCom and noted the nation would benefit from Rostelecom’s proposed acquisition of Tele2 Russia, currently owned by VTB Group, to become a potential competitor against the three. The news comes just days after FAS said it would attempt to block any merger of Tele2 Russia with one of those big three telecoms. Tele2 Russia was bought out by VTB for $3.55 billion earlier this month.

Full Content: Total Telecom

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