Uzbekistan, Tashkent, June 4 / Trend, D. Azizov /
Osman Turan was appointed Director-General of the Coscom mobile operator (a subsidiary of Scandinavian TeliaSonera in Uzbekistan, Ucell trademark), according to a statement released by the company on Tuesday.
Prior to his appointment as the head of Ucell, Osman Turan headed the Ncell cellular company (Nepal), and worked for Georgian Geocell for eight years.
Ucell's previous CEO Ali Agan was appointed the head of Kcell (Kazakhstan) on June 1. He has headed Ucell since September 2012. Ali Agan has previously served as the president of the mobile operator Azercell (Azerbaijan) for five years.
COSCOM LLC was founded in 1996. In July 2007, Fintur Holdings B.V., controlled by TeliaSonera, acquired 100 percent of the assets of the U.S. MCT Corp, which owned stakes in Coscom.
Starting in June 2008, the operator began providing mobile services in Uzbekistan under the brand name Ucell, working under the GSM-900-1800 standard. In February 2009, Ucell launched 3G for commercial operations, and in July 2010 - the network of the fourth generation (4G) in Tashkent based on LTE (Long-Term Evolution) technology.
Currently, TeliaSonera owns 94 percent of the shares of the operator, while Uzbek minor shareholders hold six percent.
As reported, according to 2012 results, Ucell increased net revenues by 36.3 percent to 2.369 billion SEK ($373.1 million), earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased by 31.4 percent to 904 million SEK ($142.4 million).
The average minutes used by subscriber per month in Ucell network increased by four percent to 266 minutes by the end of 2012.
Ucell's subscriber base in 2012 increased by 23.2 percent to 9.475 million users.
According to TeliaSonera, the market was significantly affected by the termination of services by the largest mobile operator in Uzbekistan - Uzdunrobita LLC ( as subsidiary of MTS) - in July last year.
After MTS left Uzbek market, Unitel (a subsidiary of Russian VimpelCom) and Ucell remain major players with respective shares of 54 percent and 41 percent. Uzdunrobita's subscribers (9.5 million) were divided between Unitel and Ucell.