Telia faces Russian competition for Turkcell ownership
Published: 31 Mar, 2005 CET.
Updated: Thu 31 Mar 2005 10:39 CET
Russian tele-communictions company Alfa Telecom is fighting Telia for ownership of Turkcell, Turkey's mobile operator.
Earlier this week Teliasonera agreed to buy 27 percent of Turkcell from the Cukurova Group for 22 billion konor.
According to various news outlets the deal has been stopped by the Istanbull bourse because Alfa Telecom bid more for the shares.
After over a year of struggling to acquire shares in the Turkish company, Teliasonera had expected to own 64.3 percent of Turkcell, ensuring a strong market position. Turkcell is Turkey's largest mobile phone company with over 23 million customers.
It is expected that Swedish-Finnish Telia Sonera will seek to outbid the Russians although Kim Ignatius, Telia's spokensperson would not comment on how high Telia Sonera are prepared to go in the bidding.
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Earlier this week Teliasonera agreed to buy 27 percent of Turkcell from the Cukurova Group for 22 billion konor.
According to various news outlets the deal has been stopped by the Istanbull bourse because Alfa Telecom bid more for the shares.
After over a year of struggling to acquire shares in the Turkish company, Teliasonera had expected to own 64.3 percent of Turkcell, ensuring a strong market position. Turkcell is Turkey's largest mobile phone company with over 23 million customers.
It is expected that Swedish-Finnish Telia Sonera will seek to outbid the Russians although Kim Ignatius, Telia's spokensperson would not comment on how high Telia Sonera are prepared to go in the bidding.
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