Azerbaijan, Baku, 11 February / Trend / The contract on the sale of the Azerbaijani government share in Azercell Telecom JV, the biggest mobile operator in the country, was signed on 11 February in Baku.
The Government share of 35.7% was sold to the co-founder of the company, the Turkish Azertell Telekommunikasyon Yatirim Dis Ticaret А.S at $180, the State Committee for the Property Management said.
Azercell was founded on 19 January 1996. The Turkish Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology of Azerbaijan acted as its first founder. The company launched its activities on 15 December 1996. The company has more than 2.8mln subscribers. Halim Atesh is the General Director of the company.
The investments of the company reached $600mln since the company began its activity. Azercell, one of the big tax-payers of Azerbaijan has paid some $400mln to the state budget and other Government funds.
The consultant on the privatization of the communication institutions is Ernst and Young.