Rostelecom decides not to sell its subsidiary in Armenia

Rostelecom decided not to sell the Armenian subsidiary of GNC-Alfa but engage in active development of the company.

According to TASS, company’s president Mikhail Oseevsky said:

“There is no issue of selling it anymore, we have decided to develop it actively.”

He noted that Rostelecom launched the Wink video service in Armenia and is building a data center. “The company did very well last year, we are pleased,” Oseevsky added.

In January 2022, the Public Services Regulatory Commission of Armenia gave a positive response to the application of GNC-Alfa dated October 19, 2021, which stated that Russian citizen Arman Hunanyan and Electric Networks of Armenia CJSC plan to register Molitro Holdings Limited in Cyprus, which would acquire 100% of the shares of the sole shareholder of Philor Ventures Limited.

40% of the shares of Molitro Holdings Limited are owned by Electric Networks of Armenia CJSC, the owner of which is Samvel Karapetyan, the president of Tashir Group.

In December 2021, the head of Rostelecom, Mikhail Oseevsky, said that the company wanted to receive $25 million for the Armenian asset.

Since 2017, 10% of the shares of the Armenian telecommunications operator Ucom have been owned by Fora-Bank, which is part of the Tashir Group.

In November 2021, Minister of High-Tech Industry Vahagn Khachaturyan (now the President of Armenia) said that the Armenian government was concerned about a possible merger between Rostelecom Armenia and Ucom.

“Logically, if this company acquires Rostelecom, it is not excluded that it will merge with Ucom and they will agree on joint actions. We have such fears,” Vahagn Khachaturyan said.