Sankt-Peterburg Telecom and Oblcom (merged with Tele2)

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Sankt-Peterburg Telecom and Oblcom, a local cellular phone service provider, serves the area with a population of US$ 7 million in St.Petersburg and Leningrad Region. Sankt-Peterburg Telecom owns network equipment and licenses for services in St. Petersburg and it provides services in Surrounding area - Leningrad region through its partner company “Oblcom”. St. Peterburg Telecom was founded in 1993 as a joint venture between Motorola (60%) and Soyuzkontrakt (40%). It received 10 year license to operate an AMPS system in St. Petersburg in December 1993. Motorola invested US$10 million in this venture in 1994. The number of subscribers was only 5 thousand in 1996. In 1997 Motorola sold its 60% equity participation in St.Peterburg Telecom to Millicom International Cellular SA and Oblcom was established. In 2001 St. Peterburg Telecom was owned by Millicom (60.6%), DigiTelCom -Virgin Islands- (25.4%), and St. Petersburg city hall (14%). Oblcom was owned by Millicom (60.6%), DigiTelCom (36.64%), and Lensvyaz (2.76%). Millicom started to provide its services in Russia under the brand name FORA (previously used by St. Petersburg Telecom) and held controlling stakes in 12 operators covering a population of 48 million. The regions covered by the FORA group were: Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Belgorod, Izhevsk (Republuic of Udmurtiya), Irkutsk, Kemerovo, Kursk, Nizhny Novgorod, Omsk, Smolensk, Rostov-on-Don, Chelyabinsk. The holding's Russian cellular operators had a total base of 165 thousand subscribers in various parts of Russia in 2001. Since entering the market, Millicom invested over US $100 million into Russian economy. In December 2001 the shares of Millicom in 12 Russian companies were acquired by Tele2 AB which, along with Millicom, is part of the Kinnevik group. The assets included 11 AMPS carriers and the Moscow Cellular Communications NMT 450 MHz carrier. Tele2 AB paid $80 million for the assets and promised another $30 million after the AMPS carriers, which had to abandon their spectrum according to an agreement with the Communications Ministry, received GSM 1800 MHz licenses. After the acquisition, all of Tele2 subsidiaries switched to Tele2 brand. Tele2 planned to invest up to US$80 million in GSM communications in Russia in 2003. Sankt-Peterburg Telecom and Oblcom acquired GSM-1800 licenses in April 2002 for 10 years and Tele2 launched GSM-1800 mobile network in this region in August 2003. In September 2003 Tele2 increased it’s ownership in Sankt-Peterburg Telecom to 86% and in Oblcom to 97%. Brand name FORA Telecom (until 2001), Tele2 (after 2001) Starting from 2001 subscribers base is available only for total FORA Telecom (or Tele2) holdings and there is limited info about individual companies. US$80 million investment (to be invested in Tele2 holdings - 11 companies in Russia in 2003) was added to project: Sankt-Peterburg Telecom and Oblcom