The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has permitted Azerbaijan’s Bakcell telecom operator to acquire shares in Preludium B.V. (the Netherlands) through which MTS Group owns the second largest mobile communications operator in Ukraine – PrJSC VF Ukraine (Vodafone Ukraine).
“Today, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine granted permission to Bakcell LLC for the indirect purchase of shares of Preludium B.V., which grants over 50% of the votes in the management body of the company. This will allow the company from Azerbaijan to get indirect control over the Ukrainian mobile communications operator, known under the Vodafone brand,” the committee said in the Facebook social network.
Bakcell, founded in 1994, is the mobile communications operator and a leading provider of mobile Internet in Azerbaijan. It operates in GSM, UMTS and LTE standards.
Bakcell network consists of more than 7,500 towers, covers 93% of the territory (excluding occupied territories) and 99% of the population of Azerbaijan. The company has more than 3 million subscribers.
According to the results of 2018, Vodafone Ukraine reduced its net profit by 18.1% compared to 2017, to UAH 1.8 billion. The company explained this figure as an increase in costs due to the active deployment of 4G and 3G networks.
Vodafone Ukraine is fully owned by Preludium B.V. It is part of the international MTS Group, which shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
