Albanesi
Gesperrt
http://www.seeurope.net/en/Story.php?StoryID=55516&LangID=1
Albania will sell 76% of the Albanian state phone company Albtelecom Sh.A. to a Turkish consortium in a deal worth $151 million, the government said Thursday.
The consortium, consisting of Turk Telekom and Calik Enerji Telekomunikasyon AS, was the only international group offering to buy the Albtelecom. Ten other companies -from Slovenia, South Korea, the U.S., Kuwait and Ireland - had expressed interest earlier but didn't submit bids.
Albtelecom, which the government valued about $183 million last January, is the only fixed-line telephone company in the country, which also owns a mobile phone operator.
The deal "is one of the most successful in the history of privatization," said Prime Minister Fatos Nano. "It is an invaluable contribution in the sustainable growth of the Albanian economy, an incontestable success of the reform of privatization and restructuring of the market and economy toward standards of the global economy."
But the opposition Democratic Party of former President Sali Berisha said they would review the Albtelecom privatization process, claiming it was sold beneath its value and that the procedure was irregular.
Nano said the Turkish consortium represented two very powerful financial and economic groupings "that serve as a guarantee to bring to Albania contemporary models and standards of telecommunication."
Nano said Turk Telekom had 25 million subscribers for its fixed-line telephone service and 5 million for its mobile phone service, while Calik Enerji Telekomunikacion was one of the three most powerful financial groupings in Turkey.
Albania, one of Europe's poorest countries, is in the process of privatizing state-owned companies.
Albania will sell 76% of the Albanian state phone company Albtelecom Sh.A. to a Turkish consortium in a deal worth $151 million, the government said Thursday.
The consortium, consisting of Turk Telekom and Calik Enerji Telekomunikasyon AS, was the only international group offering to buy the Albtelecom. Ten other companies -from Slovenia, South Korea, the U.S., Kuwait and Ireland - had expressed interest earlier but didn't submit bids.
Albtelecom, which the government valued about $183 million last January, is the only fixed-line telephone company in the country, which also owns a mobile phone operator.
The deal "is one of the most successful in the history of privatization," said Prime Minister Fatos Nano. "It is an invaluable contribution in the sustainable growth of the Albanian economy, an incontestable success of the reform of privatization and restructuring of the market and economy toward standards of the global economy."
But the opposition Democratic Party of former President Sali Berisha said they would review the Albtelecom privatization process, claiming it was sold beneath its value and that the procedure was irregular.
Nano said the Turkish consortium represented two very powerful financial and economic groupings "that serve as a guarantee to bring to Albania contemporary models and standards of telecommunication."
Nano said Turk Telekom had 25 million subscribers for its fixed-line telephone service and 5 million for its mobile phone service, while Calik Enerji Telekomunikacion was one of the three most powerful financial groupings in Turkey.
Albania, one of Europe's poorest countries, is in the process of privatizing state-owned companies.
