Indonesia in Uzbek telecoms talks

Indonesia in Uzbek telecoms talks

TASHKENT (Reuter): The former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan is holding talks with companies from Indonesia, Japan and South Korea about selling a 49 percent stake in the Tashkent phone network, a senior privatization official said yesterday.

Mirafzal Mirsoatov, deputy chairman of the Central Asian nation's State Property Committee, told Reuters Uzbekistan had selected three companies as front-runners -- Indonesia's Bakrie Group, South Korea's Daewoo Telecom, and Japan's Mitsui & Co.

"During September we will determine with which company a joint venture will be formed," he said.

Uzbekistan will form a joint venture based on the Tashkent telephone network GTS Tashkent, and capitalized at US$600 million, and allow the foreign partner to acquire 49 percent, he said.

The Bakrie Group currently had the best chances, he said.

The Bakrie Group is a privately-held company which controls Bakrie and Brothers. Last year it formed a joint venture, Uzbektelekom International, to modernize telecoms in several regions of the desert nation of 22 million.

Bakrie also has multi-million dollar agreements with Uzbekistan to build a fertilizer plant and develop oil and gas reserves.

Earlier this year Mitsui and Co Ltd [8031.T] won a 11.3 billion yen tender to modernize Uzbekistan's telecommunications.

Daewoo Telecom is a unit of the Daewoo Group whose Daewoo Corp was awarded a 40 percent stake in Kazakhstan's telecoms monopoly Kazakhtelekom in June. The group announced plans last year to invest over $1 billion in Uzbek telecoms by the year 2010.

The state will own 36 percent of the venture, and the workforce 15 percent, Mirsoatov said.

The authorities have previously said that the venture will run for 15 years, and the foreign partner will have to modernize 350,000 lines and add a further 100,000 lines over 2-3 years.