YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, NOYAN TAPAN. 90% of shares of the telecommunication company ArmenTel that belong to OTE company (Greece) have been sold to the Arab consortium Emirates Telecomminications Corporation (ETISALAT)/ Istithmar PJSC/Emergent Telecom Venures (ETV) for 600 million USD. The news agency Regnum reported that this information was neither confirmed nor refuted by ArmeTel itself. According to spokeswoman for ArmenTel Hasmik Chutilian, she has no information about the winner of the international tender. In the words of spkeswoman for the RA Ministry of Transport and Communication Tamara Galechian, the minsiter is away on a business trip so she can't get any information about the new owner of 90% of ArmenTel's shares. It is worth mentioning that last year OTE announced a tender for sale of 90% of ArmenTel's shares. 16 companies participated in the tender, with the Russian companies VympelKom and MTC, as well companies ETISALAT (Emirates Telecommunications Corporation/Istithmar ETV/Emergent Telecom Ventures) and VTEL Holdings/Knightsbridge Associated reaching the second stage of the tender. To recap, in 1997 OTE acquired 90% of shares of the telecommunication company ArmenTel for 142.47 million USD through an international tender. 10% of ArmenTel's shares belong to the Armenian government. Recently the RA Minister of Transport and Communication Andranik Margarian stated that the purchaser of ArmenTel's shares must waive the right of monopoly on a number of activities, and the companies intending to acquire the company's shares agreed with this requirement.

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