Ukrtelecom Privatization - When?

A meeting of politicians and telecommunication sector participants yesterday showed that all sides are still a long way from setting a date for Ukrtelecom’s (UTEL: UNDER REVIEW) privatization. Parliamentary Privatization Commission Member Liudmila Kirichenko (a Party of Regions member) has said that the current government wants to sell the company before parliamentary elections set for March 2006. State Property Fund official Svitlana Ledomska has said that it would be impossible to sell UTEL before elections. According to Ledomska the company could not be put up for tender earlier than 2007. The head of UTEL’s supervisory board expects the company to be privatized in the fall of 2006. Concorde Capital: Trying to guess exactly when UTEL will be privatized is a fool’s game, there are multiple questions concerning the privatization, including the absence of a law that stipulates the procedure for the company’s privatization. The best case scenario looks to be in the fall of 2006. WATCH for our report on UTEL later today.