MEGAFON

'MegaFon' (previously known as 'North-West GSM') is the third largest mobile phone operators in Russia.MegaFon in talks on buying Uzbekistan's Coscom Cellular News It works in the GSM standard. Its main competitors are Bee Line GSM and Mobile TeleSystems (MTS).
The name "MegaFon" in Russian looks exactly like a word for a megaphone; other connotations are 'mega-' as "big" and 'fon' as "telephone". Its headquarters are located in Moscow.
In 2002 the company changed its name from ''North-West GSM'' to MegaFon when it acquired several regional companies, becoming the first GSM company in Russia to cover all its territory.
As of February 2007, MegaFon had 30,657,864 subscribers.

Contents

Business in Tajikistan

Business in Uzbekistan

Ownership

References

External links

Business in Tajikistan

MegaFon's only subsidiary outside Russia is Tajikistan's TT Mobile.

Business in Uzbekistan

''Kommersant'' reported on September 7, 2006 that MegaFon is negotiating in buying an 85% stake in Uzbek mobile operator Coscom from the MCT Corpation. The other 15% stake in Coscom would be held by Coscom management and private shareholders. Analysts estimated Coscom is worth between USD $180-200 million. Coscom's has over 300,000 customers.

Ownership

The company was founded by Finnish and Swedish national telecom companies, now merged into TeliaSonera along with the Russian holding company Telecom-invest. As of March 2006

★ Telecom-invest together wih its Bermuda based sister company IPOC International Growth Fund own 39% of the company.

★
★ Jeffrey Galmond, a Danish lawyer publicly claims to own and control both companies, but they are rumored to in fact represent the personal interests of Russian telecommunications minister Leonid Reiman.^[1]

★ TeliaSonera now owns 36% of the company.

★ Alfa Group of Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman owns 25.1%.
A battle for control of the company is ongoing between Alfa Group and Jeffrey Galmond's party.
:''References: Helsingin Sanomat, March 28, 2006'' [1] [2] (requires subscription)

References

1. Venäläisministeri paljastui TeliaSoneran liikekumppaniksi ''Russian minister is revealed as TeliaSonera's secret business partner in Russia'' - Digitoday 24 May 2006


★ Helsingin Sanomat 28 March 2006

★ Russia at Heart of German Probe - Moscow Times July 26, 2005

★ European Commission to investigate TeliaSonera deals in Russia - Helsingin Sanomat 28 March 2006

External links

★ MegaFon English corporate site

★ Alfa Group Accused of Bribing to Buy MegaFon June 13, 2006