Russia’s Svyazinvest has posted net profits of R20.363 billion (€564.6 million) for the first nine months of this year, according to a local report. The figure represents a fall of 33.8% on the first nine months of last year. At the same time, its revenues rose by 30.6% year-on-year to R1.634 billion. Svyazinvest is by far the leading provider of telecom services in Russia, accounting for over 90% of the country’s total capacity. Although majority owned by Federal Property Agency (75% minus one share), with Comstar-UTS (17.31% plus one share) and MGTS Finance (7.69%) owning the remainder, its privatisation has been mooted for some time.