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Turkey’s largest mobile operator Turkcell is to acquire an 80% stake in state-owned BeST (Belarusian Telecommunications Network) for $500 million.
Turkcell will pay $300 million up front followed by two further payments of $100 million at the end of 2009 and 2010, respectively. An additional $100 million will be paid when BeST records a full-year positive net income for the first time.
Also under the deal, Turkcell will invest $500 million in the network over the next ten years in order to “transform BeST into a competitive player in the Belarusian market.” The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval.
According to Turkcell’s sources, penetration in Belarus was approximately 65% in 2007, suggesting reasonable potential for market growth. BeST had 987,289 subscribers by Q2 2008, trailing market-leader MTS Belarus (4.1 million) and second-placed Velcom Belarus (3.2 million).
[Via: MarketWatch]
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Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
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