Another Acquisition in the Volga region: Golden Telecom acquires control of Samara-Telecom
17 Feb 2004
Samara-Telecom has been allocated approximately 100,000 subscriber lines in Samara, of which approximately 97,000 are currently in use by clients. Approximately 57,000 subscriber lines are used by three local cellular operators: SMARTS, Megafon and Beeline. The remainder is directly sold to
corporate and individual customers. Samara-Telecom also offers dedicated Internet access, and estimates that it has about 15% of the market in Samara. Samara-Telecom earned revenues of approximately $5 million in 2002 and in excess of $6.5 million in 2003, according to the company's unaudited accounts, stated using Russian Accounting Standards (RAS). The company reported positive net income according to RAS, and has no significant long-term debts. Alexander Vinogradov, Chief Executive Officer and President of Golden Telecom, Inc. commented: "Carefully selected acquisition targets are a springboard into those regions where we see growth potential. We are delighted to add Samara-Telecom to our portfolio of regional companies, in keeping with our strategy of maintaining our position as the largest independent telecoms operator in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)." Oleg Malis, Senior Vice-president of Golden Telecom stated: "Samara-Telecom is an important strategic acquisition on fair terms. It is profitable and carries no external debt. We believe that we can enhance the
margins and growth prospects of the company by selling more aggressively to corporate clients, and by using our network infrastructure to reduce the cost of long distance and international traffic."
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