Vimpelcom gets green light to acquire Golden Telecom Uzbekistan

The Uzbek State Committee for Demonopolization and Support of Competition and Entrepreneurship has approved the acquisition of 100% of Golden Telecom by Russia’s Vimpelcom. ’Vimpelcom’s request to buy Golden Telecom was received on 18 January, and we have granted permission to carry out the deal,’ a source from the department told the BBC World news team. Moscow-based Golden Telecom owns more than 54% of Buzton, which holds a licence to provide local and national services, and has been allocated 10,000 subscriber numbers. It claims 22 points of presence, mostly in Tashkent with a few others scattered across ten regions. The company says it controls 60% of the foreign corporate and embassy telecoms market.