Telekom Austria Group is still interested in the acquisition of 30% of shares of the Cyprian company SB Telecom Ltd., the proprietor of Belarusian mobile operator Velcom, Hannes Ametsreiter, the Chief Executive Officer of the Telekom Austria Group and Mobilkom Austria AG, told reporters in Minsk on 18 August.

Hannes Ametsreiter confirmed his interest to buy the remaining 30% of SB Telecom Ltd. shares, but he did not specify the details of the possible deal. “We are considering a possibility of the acquisition, but I can not tell you anything more at the moment,” he said. Telekom Austria Group owns 70% of SB Telecom Ltd shares.

“Despite the crisis, the company is ready to keep on investing in business development in Belarus. We invest in your market and we try to improve the quality of our service, to provide a good product for our clients. We are going to expand our presence on the Belarusian market. We have plans to strengthen our positions in Belarus and we will take certain steps to achieve this goal. The Belarusian economy attracts the investors with its stability, and it is a very important factor in the context of the global financial crisis,” said Hannes Ametsreiter.

“The company pays special attention to the new technologies. The mobile phone will become the universal media device, which will bring together all the modern innovations in the future,” summarized Hannes Ametsreiter.

Velcom was founded in July 1998 as a joint Belarusian-Cyprian company ‘Mobile Digital Communications’. In 1998 it acquired the license for design, construction and exploitation of the GSM-900 national cellular communication network and also for providing GSM services. In 2002 the company was given the license for developing the GSM-1800 cellular communication network. On August 22, 2007 the company changed the name for foreign private unitary company ‘Mobile Digital Communications’ after Cyprus’ SB Telecom Ltd. acquired a state share in the operator. In October 2007 Telekom Austria Group reached an agreement on purchasing 70% of shares of SB Telecom Ltd. On May 15 the company changed the name to become known as ‘Velcom’.

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