YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 14, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Public Services Regulatory Commission on November 14 gave consent for the transaction of selling 90% of ArmenTel's shares representing property of Greek company OTE to Vympelcommunicatsii OJSC. Vahe Yaghubian, Advisor to the Armenian government on legal issues, said that Vymplecommunicatsii has renounced its monopoly on all services. The company immediately renounced its monopoly on international data transmission and international voice communication. It will renounce its monopoly on all other services until November 14, 2007. According to V. Yaghubian, the Armenian government intends to sell its stake of 10% of ArmenTel's shares. Oleg Bliznyuk, representtaive of Vympelcommunicatsii, said that they have great plans in Armenia and are ready to cooperate with all partners. First of all, the quality of services should be improved instead of raising tariffs. It was noted that the company was set up in 1992 and now has about 54 million subscribers not only in Russia but also in Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrghyzstan, Ukraine and Georgia. The company's main shareholders are the Russian company Alpha and the Norwegian company Telenor. In O. Bliznyuk's words, Vympelcom is the first Russian company to sell its shares on the New York Stock Exchange for 10 years. To recap, according to press reports, the price of ArmenTel's sale to Vymplecom amounts to 382 million euros (342 million euros for shares plus ArmenTel's debt of 40 million euros). The price of this transaction has not yet been announced officially.

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