The Belarusian government has failed to sell its 51% stake in mobile operator MTS Belarus at an auction due to a lack of bids, a spokesperson for the country’s State Property Committee has disclosed to the local media. ‘The auction was cancelled as no bids for the stake had been filed, the spokesperson admitted.
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, in December last year the government reduced the price of its controlling stake in MTS Belarus from USD1 billion to USD863 million, following a series of unsuccessful attempts to sell the stake at the higher price. Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) of Russia has maintained that the starting price is too high.