Azerbaijan, Baku, 4 April / Trend corr S. Babayeva/ Azercell Telecom, Azerbaijan's largest mobile operator, has changed its ownership title.
In accordance with the new Charter registered on 1 April 2008 by the Department for Organization of the State Registration of Commercial Legal Entities of the Baku Tax Department of the Ministry of Taxes of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the new title of the Azercell Telecom Ltd Joint Venture has been confirmed as Azercell Telecom Limited Liability Company, (and the short name being as Azercell Telecom LLC). In compliance to the existing legislation and the abovementioned new Charter, the newly-named Company is the legal successor of the Azercell Telecom Ltd Joint Venture. Consequently, the legality and validity of the documents in force signed by Azercell Telecom Ltd Joint Venture before the registration of the new Charter mentioned will remain unaltered.
The contract on the sale of Azercell JV's state-owned share was signed in February. The State's share (35.7%) was sold to the co-founder of the company, Turkish Azertell Telekommunikasyon Yatirim Dis Ticaret А.S, for $180mln.
Azercell Telecom was established as a JV on 19 January 1996 by Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. and the Azerbaijani Communications & IT Ministry. The company launched its operation on 15 December 1996 offering its clients mobile network services through post-payment. Currently, the number of Azercell subscribers exceeds 3mln.
Azercell's capital totals $600mln. Being one of Azerbaijan's largest tax-payers, Azercell paid off some $400mln to the public budget and other State funds.
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