Ukrtelecom sell off delayed

The part privatisation of the incumbent Ukrainian telco Ukrtelecom, which was scheduled for Q1 2007, is now unlikely to take place before the end of the year. Ukrtelecom, which is currently 92.86% state owned, has already attracted the interest of Russia’s Comstar UTS, and the local holding company System Capital Management (SMS) is also expected to bid for what will be a 10% stake in the telco. In a related development, the Israel-based infrastructure provider ECI Telecom has just finished deploying the first stage of an advanced metro optical network for Ukrtelecom. It will allow the telco to offer such additional services as VoIP and IPTV. (CD)