Russia’s MTS is currently in talks to buy the Moscow-based cable operator Akado.
Kommersant reports that if they succeed, the company will end up controlling 50% of the internet and pay-TV market in Moscow, with its nearest competitor VimpelCom currently claiming a 22.7% share.
Akado is majority-owned by Renova, backed by Viktor Vekselberg and Yuri Pripachkin, was valued at more than $1 billion last year, though right now it may be worth some $800-900 million.
Akado is a triple play company and has interests in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, as well as in Belarus, where it owns 50% of Cosmos TV. As of the end of 2012 it had 1.24 million cable subscribers, of whom 656,000 received digital TV services.
