Telia informs US Department of Justice about selling its stake in Ucell

The Swedish telecommunications company “Telia” informed the US Department of Justice about a deal to sell its stake in the Uzbek mobile operator “Ucell”, Kun.uz correspondent reports referring to the data of the company.

On December 5, 2018, Telia Company announced the sale of its stake in Ucell (100% of shares) to the State Committee for the Promotion of Privatized Enterprises and the Development of Competition for $ 215 million.

In 2014, the US Justice Ministry launched an investigation into corruption in Uzbekistan’s telecommunications market regarding MTS, Veon (in addition, it owns the Russian “VimpelCom”) and the Swedish Telia Company AB (prior to renaming “TeliaSonera”) since all three companies were trading on the American Stock Exchange. 

The US law enforcement officials suspect that these enterprises paid for licenses through fake companies and bribed government representatives. All suspicious transactions were made between January 2006 and October 2011.

In February 2016, VimpelCom agreed on the terms of an amicable settlement with the US authorities on the case and paid $ 795 million. In September 2017, Telia announced that the company would pay a fine as much as $ 965 million.

Currently, about 1,250 employees work in the company. The subscriber base consists of 7.1 million subscribers. The network 2G Ucell covers about 97% of Uzbekistan, while the company’s 3G network covers 60% of the country. 

Recently, the company officially announced the appointment of Acting General Director Vladimir Kravchenko. Previously, Kravchenko served as a director of the national operator Uzmobile, and then director of the sales center at the company “Uzbektelecom”.