Rostelecom may have merged with seven other units of Russia's state telecom holding company Svyazinvest in a wide-ranging reform effort, but the government will continue to have a prominent role in the telco.
Wanting to have a larger role in the country's telecom industry, the Russian government decided to reform Svyazinvest in 2009 by merging Rostelecom with seven regional service providers that Svyazinvest oversees.
According to a Reuters report, the government was worried that would directly own less than 50 percent of the newly merged company, although it would have indirect control of it through Deposit Insurance Agency and development bank VEB state agencies.
Two issues that are clouding the Svyazinvest reform that is set to be finished in Q1 2011: fighting between boardroom members and "the growing influence" of minor shareholder Marshall Capital Partners.
For more:
- Reuters has this article
Related articles:
Tata Communications pushes further into Russian telecom market
Cisco eyes Russia, CIS investments
Week in Research: Russia's fixed-line, wireless broadband operators race for subscribers