MOSCOW-Russian mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems said it increased its ownership in Ukrainian Mobile Communications to 83.7 percent by acquiring an additional 26-percent stake in the Ukrainian operator. MTS paid Ukrtelecom $87.57 million for the stake.
The acquisition was pursuant to the terms and conditions of a call option agreement with Ukrtelecom signed in 2002. MTS has a similar call option agreement with Denmark’s TDC, which holds the remaining 16.3-percent stake in UMC. If it exercises the TDC option, MTS will hold 100 percent of the Ukrainian operator.
MTS formerly acquired UMC stakes from Ukrtelecom (25 percent), KPN Telecom (16.3 percent) and Deutsche Telekom (16.3 percent).
MTS said UMC had 1.9 million subscribers at the beginning of the month.
