Russia's VimpelCom has confirmed earlier news reports that it has acquired a 90% stake in the Cambodian company Sotelco, which holds a GSM 900/1800 license and related frequencies for the territory of Cambodia. The transaction was made through the purchase of 90% of Sotelco’s parent company, Atlas Trade for US$28 million from VimpelCom’s largest shareholder Altimo (which owns 44% of Vimplecom). The remaining 10% of Atlas will stay with a local partner, a Cambodian entrepreneur.

VimpelCom has also acquired a call option to purchase the 10% interest of the local partner for market value at the date of exercise of the option.

Alexander Izosimov, CEO of VimpelCom, said, “We are very happy to announce the next significant step in implementation of our international expansion strategy. The Cambodian mobile market offers attractive growth potential, as the country has a population of 14 million people and a low mobile penetration estimated at around 18%. Cambodian market entry is an important part of VimpelCom’s international expansion strategy particularly within a South-East Asian cluster of operations started by our entry to the Vietnamese mobile market. We foresee an impressive growth potential within the South-East Asian region and cluster synergies”.

Figures from the Mobile World database however estimates that the country ended Q1 '08 with just under 2.9 million mobile subscribers - representing a slightly higher penetration level of  20%. There are currently eight licensed operators in the country, although only three operators have any meaningful customer base.

Last year, VimpelCom began a joint venture with the government in Vietnam, where it plans to invest $1 billion to build a new GSM network.

Source:cellular-news