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MegaFon eyes $4.6b investment in Iran
Russia's third-largest mobile phone operator, MegaFon, is prepared to invest around three billion euros ($4.64 billion) to build a GSM network in Iran, the company said late on Monday.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:41 May 14, 2008
Moscow: Russia's third-largest mobile phone operator, MegaFon, is prepared to invest around three billion euros ($4.64 billion) to build a GSM network in Iran, the company said late on Monday.
MegaFon hopes to win a tender for the third GSM licence in Iran, the firm quoted its general director Sergei Soldatenkov as saying at the opening of a representative office in Tehran.
There are currently two mobile service providers in Iran - state-controlled Iran Telecommunication Company and MTN Group, sub-Saharan Africa's biggest cellphone operator.
Iran, which has 28 million mobile phone users, is expected to auction its third GSM licence in the middle of this year but the tender has not been announced yet.
MegaFon said in February it was considering long-term investment opportunities in the Iranian telecommunication sector while Western firms are wary of investing in Iran after the United Nations imposed sanctions over its nuclear programme.
The sanctions, which Russia joined last week, impose restrictions on travel and financial transactions with certain Iranian individuals and companies.
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