Ukrtelecom Makes Step Towards Liberal Long-Distance Tariffs.

Ukrtelecom (UTEL: BUY) won a court ruling repealing its status as a monopolist in the long-distance fixed-line telephone market. The monopoly status, imposed by the Antimonopoly Committee, which lost the suit, meant that Ukrtelecom’s long-distance tariffs were fixed, which gave the company a disadvantage versus other fixed-line operators and mobile networks. Alexander Paraschiy: The decision makes sense since UTEL already has less than one-third of the telecoms market. However, the abolition of UTEL’s monopoly status is only a first step toward gaining the right to set its tariffs without regulators’ interference, which would need to be followed by changes in regulations. Much will depend on whether the new government wants to privatize UTEL in the near term, which is still unclear.