Azerbaijan, Baku, 24 September / Trend corr. S.Babayeva / Azercell Telecom, the hugest mobile communication operator in Azerbaijan, carried out payment for the privatization of state part in accordance with schedule, Halim Atesh, the President of the company, said on 23 September.
їUnder the agreement with the state, these funds are being paid gradually. There is not any problem on this matter,ї he said.
However, he refused to publicize the amount of payment referring to confidentiality of data.
In February 2008 a contract was singed to sell the state share at Azercell Telecom Joint Venture (JV). The state share worth 35.7%, or $180mln, was sold to Azertell Telekomuniksyon Yatirim Dis Ticaret А.S, the Turkish co-founder of the company.
Azercell Telecom was established as a JV on 19 January 1996. The first founders of the company included the Azerbaijani Communications & IT Ministry and Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. The company began its activity on 15 December in 1996, offering mobile communication services on the base of post payment. Prepayment system of SimSim tariff plan was introduced in 1998. The companyїs subscribers number to 3.5mln people. Investment of operator amounted to $1bln during the whole activity.