MTS Ukraine selling Crimea property

Ukraine’s second-largest mobile operator MTS Ukraine has launched a sale of certain property and equipment in the breakaway Crimea region, where it no longer operates following the transfer of control to Russian administration. TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database says that MTS Ukraine closed its sales and service points in Sevastopol in the Crimea region on 30 June 2014, while replacement Russian SIM cards were reportedly distributed in Crimea for a company called K-Telecom (thought to be wholly owned by MTS Ukraine’s Russian parent group). In August 2014 MTS Ukraine agreed to offer roaming services in Crimea on the UMTS network of Ukrainian operator Ukrtelecom (TriMob) – although this network’s service continuity has since been put in doubt too – while MTS Ukraine users were also reportedly served via ‘roaming’ on the K-Telecom (‘Vin-Mobile’) network from that month onwards. K-Telecom has effectively taken over the mobile network of MTS Ukraine in the peninsula. According to BizLiga, the value of the ‘administrative and business, engineering, telecommunications equipment and vehicles’ up for sale is UAH280 million (USD21.2 million).