Sky Link
Since 1991
Russia
Central Federal District of the Russian Federation
Moscow
Top managers:
Shvaybovich Vladislav
Competitors: MTS, VimpelCom, Megafon
Owners:
T2 RTK Holding (formerly Tele2 Russia AB, Tele2) - 100%
Content |
Assets
As of September 2010, Sky Link provides IMT-MC-450 technology services in more than 9 thousand settlements in 36 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. In total, Sky Link serves more than 1.2 million subscribers, including users of other companies, Uralvestkom in Yekaterinburg and the region, Apex in Chelyabinsk and the region, SoundTelecom in Yaroslavl, Ivanovo , Kostroma, North-Eastern Telecommunications in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) operating under this brand.
In September 2010, it became known that Sky Link received a decision by the State Radio Frequency Commission (SCR) to allocate radio frequency bands of 2.1 GHz1920-1933 MHz and 2120-2125 MHz for the IMT-MC dual-band cellular communication network (CDMA-2000) in the Moscow and North-West regions. Prior to this, the company provided services based on IMT-MC-450 technology (CDMA-2000 1x in the 450 MHz band). Obtaining 2.1 GHz radio frequencies provides Sky Link with a more broadband frequency resource, which allows the company to provide full-fledged third-generation (3G) cellular services. Thus, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, for the first time in Russia, the fourth player appears in the 3G service market. MTS, VimpelCom (Beeline) and MegaFon have licenses and radio frequencies of 2.1 GHz to provide 3G services throughout Russia in the WCDMA/UMTS standard.
According to the Director General of Sky Link Gulnara Khasyanova, the lower frequency range (450 MHz) will be used by the operator to provide network coverage of large territories in the Moscow region and the North-West, and the higher frequency range (2.1 GHz) - in places of maximum traffic, that is, directly in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In 2011, the company intends to start selling cell phones operating in two frequency bands - 450 MHz and 2.1 GHz.
In early 2010, the GKRCH decided to allocate 2.1 GHz radio frequencies to those companies that already provide services using IMT-MC-450 technology without a competition. Therefore, Sky Link has a chance to get these frequencies wherever it has active IMT-MC-450 networks, and become a serious competitor to the Big Three, which was previously not allowed by the limited frequency resource of the 450 MHz range.
Performance indicators
2009
According to the results of 2009, the volume of Internet traffic in the Sky Link network amounted to more than 2 500 Tb, which exceeds 80% of the total traffic in 3G networks in the Russian Federation.
2008
An analyst at Uralsib estimated Sky Link at an amount not much higher than the operator's debt (about $600 million), and Unicredit Securities at $50-150 million over the debt.
Board of Directors
On December 1, 2010, an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of Sky Link CJSC elected a new board of directors of the company consisting of 5 people. The Board of Directors of Sky Link CJSC included the following representatives of Svyazinvest OJSC:
- Herman Nadezhda Evgenyevna - Director of the Department of Wireless Communications
- Golubitsky Bogdan Ivanovich - Executive Director of the Department of Economic Planning and Budgeting
- Erofteeva Ekaterina Sergeevna - Executive Director-Director of the Strategy and Development Department
- Alexander Kolesnikov - Head of the Asset Management Department of the Corporate Governance and Legal Support Department
- Semenov Vadim Viktorovich - General Director.
By a decision of the board of directors at the first meeting held today December 1, 2010, Semenov Vadim Viktorovich, General Director of Svyazinvest OJSC, was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sky Link CJSC.
Company Structure
As of June 2010, the structure of the Sky Link group included three levels of management: Corporate Center (CC), Business Unit (BE) and Branch. The corporate center defines the company's strategy in all functional areas. In business units formed according to the macro-regional principle, the management of the activities of regional branches is concentrated, MVNO projects are managed by the Business Unit "Partners." Group companies have a unified planning and reporting system, technical and tariff policy and a single contact center for servicing subscribers.
History
2014: The owner of a 100% stake in Sky Link CJSC became Tele2 LLC
Since March 28, 2014, as a result of the creation of a joint venture CJSC Tele2 Russia"" with OJSC, "Rostelecom the owner of 100% of the shares of Sky Link CJSC became LLC Tele2 (100% of the shares were directly transferred to the joint venture). At the same time, Sky Link CJSC was transferred under financial the operational and control of Tele2 Russia.
2012: Rostelecom buys Sky Link
As of July 2012, 50% of Sky Link's shares belong to Svyazinvest Holding, the remaining shares are owned by the operator himself through his "daughter" - Astarta. In early July 2012, the board of directors of the holding recommended selling Sky Link to Rostelecom (Svyazinvest itself is its largest shareholder) for 9.4 billion rubles. Rostelecom will pay for the acquisition of 1.91% of its own shares.
As a result, in July 2012, Rostelecom, the largest universal telecom operator, received full control over Sky Link.
Sky Link provides cellular services in the CDMA-450 standard, but the operator is of main interest to Rostelecom because of its frequencies in the 2.1 GHz range. Initially, they were also issued for CDMA technology, but then the operator received permission to use them for the third generation UMTS cellular technology, which is used by the three largest cellular companies - VimpelCom, MTS and Megafon.
The launch of Rostelecom 3G networks at Sky Link frequencies will begin in the III-IV quarters of 2012. Equipment suppliers have already been selected: they will become Ericsson and Huawei, and they will supply equipment for the construction of new 3G networks, as well as for the modernization of Rostelecom's existing second-generation GSM networks in a number of regions. Thanks to Sky Link, Rostelecom will be able to build 3G networks where it does not have GSM, including Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Rostelecom intends to use the CDMA standard not for full-fledged mobile networks, but to solve the problem of the "last mile" in rural areas. The corresponding project was started last year in the Kostroma region, recently it was continued in the Stavropol and Krasnodar territories. The advantage of the 450 MHz range is a large service area, and there is no need for a large range of subscriber terminals in fixed communications. New mobile terminals in the CDMA standard, Shvaibovich said earlier, Skye Link does not plan to supply. What Rostelecom will do with another Sky Link asset, GSM licenses in about 40 regions, the company has not yet disclosed.
2010
Since in preparation for the exchange, Sky Link received an estimate of 9.75 billion rubles from Ernst & Young, and the transferred stake in MGTS was valued cheaper - at 9.3 billion rubles, Sistema will be forced to pay Svyazinvest 450 million rubles ($14.7 million ).
Consolidation of 100% of shares and share debts of Sky Link cost Sistema AFK $168.5 million, "said Anton Abugov, vice president of the corporation, answering a question from CNews, on September 15, 2010. These funds went to redeem half of the operator's shares from the "St. Petersburg" group of signalmen, as well as the operator's debt to the group. The purchase of shares and debts of Sky Link was made with the aim of further transferring the operator to Svyazinvest holding, while the condition of the transaction is to rid the operator of debts to shareholders - the holding will pay them for Sky Link.
Taking into account the above $168.5 million, the total costs of AFK Sistema in the framework of the transaction with Svyazinvest holding to date have amounted to $183.2 million.
On September 10, at the request of Svyazinvest, the operator's debts issued in the form of promissory notes were renovated (the number of promissory notes was reduced). Now an independent assessor must evaluate debts before transferring them to Svyazinvest. Depending on what discount will be applied to Sky Link's debts, the question will be resolved as to whether AFK Sistema will have to pay extra to its former Sky Link partner (the "St. Petersburg" group of signalmen), Abugov says.
The fact is that Sky Link's debts to St. Petersburg were also redeemed at a discount. How exactly, the "System" does not disclose. It is only known that Sistema spent 1.386 billion rubles ($48 million) on the purchase of debt. A source familiar with the deal called the figure 40%. Accordingly, as follows from the words of Anton Abugov, if the discount that Svyazinvest uses to pay the debts of Sky Link to the System is less than the discount that Sistema applied when buying back the debts of a cellular operator from the St. Petersburg group, the difference will be paid by St. Petersburg at the expense of AFK Sistema.
Earlier, Svyazinvest confirmed that Sky Link's debts to Sistema would be paid by the holding, but before that they would be discounted and installments. A source close to the deal spoke of seven years. In total, Sky Link's share debt was approximately $160 million, and the operator owed about $200 million to suppliers and banks.
The deal is scheduled to be completed in early October 2010. If it breaks down, then the St. Petersburg signalmen will be able to regain their stake in Sky Link - they have concluded an option to repurchase 50% of the operator's shares.
2009
Sistema undertakes to transfer Svyazinvest and its "daughter" - Rostelecom - a 25.1% stake in Svyazinvest and a 100% stake in Sky Link. Instead of Sistema, 23.3% of the shares of the Moscow City Telephone Network are transferred to Svyazinvest, and from its "granddaughter" - Komstar - United TeleSystems - debt to the state-owned Sberbank is written off in the amount of 26 billion rubles. The scheme was proposed by the Ministry of Communications. At the beginning of 2009, the Ministry of Finance set a condition: the exchange of assets between the state and Sistema should be cash-free.
2004
in 2004, SkyLink was the first to market a new mobile Internet service and 3G modems.
1991
In 1991, the company was the first in the Russian mobile market.
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