Foreign founders of the joint telecommunications venture UTEL (America's
AT&T, the German Deutsche Telekom and the Dutch PTT Telecom) have agreed
in principle to negotiate selling their stakes (a total 45%) in this joint
venture to the Ukrtelekom state enterprise.
In an interview with Infobank, Ukrtelekom former sales manager, People's
Deputy, Oleh Shevchuk noted that this process might last until the end
of 1999 due to a Cabinet of Ministers ban on governmental loan guarantees
to enterprises that have not yet repaid previous debts. Ukrtelekom is to
completely repay a French loan only in 2004.
However, the government seems inclined to make an exception. For Ukrtelekom,
already possessing 51% of UTEL stock, could, in the words of Mr. Shevchuk,
quite easily receive loans from Germany's Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank
which took part in the evaluation of UTEL, and from the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development. Talks are already underway for them to
pay $200 million. And having bought out UTEL and keeping it intact as an
internally self-contained unit, Ukrtelekom could raise its sales price
for privatization, which has dropped recently from $4.5 billion to $2.5
billion.
However, last Wednesday Parliament rejected and asked the government
to rework its resolution on pulling the telecommunications industry out
of the crisis, which provided, among other things, for lifting the restrictions
on Ukrtelekom government guarantees. During the debate, the Left suggested
that the provision about Ukrtelekom privatization be deleted from the resolution
text. Yet, the bill was not adopted even after this suggestion was accepted.
