Russia smooths telco privatisation

RUSSIA'S information technology minister said plans to privatise telecommunications giant, OAO Svyazinvest, would not face delays affecting auctions of other major state-owned enterprises.

Leonid Reiman said no firm decision had been made on how or when the government's 75 per cent stake in the telecoms holding company would take place. But he said that President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov both "fundamentally agree" about the privatization.

Analysts were sceptical the Svyazinvest sale would happen, since the government has repeatedly postponed auctions and reforms in other major state-owned companies, such as power grid monopoly RAO Unified Energy Systems and natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom.

Mr Reiman said he was optimistic about the telecoms sector because it was more developed than other Russian industries.

"You can't really compare telecommunications and other sectors such as gas, electricity or railways," Mr Reiman said.

"What other sectors are working on now - elimination of monopolies, liberalization, encouraging small- and medium-sized businesses - we have done a long time ago," he said.

In 1997, the government sold a 25 per cent stake in Svyazinvest for US$1.88 billion ($2.41 billion).

The Associated Press  

 

Russian tax authorities are claiming RUR 489.9 million (about $17.6 million) in back taxes for 2001 from VimpelCom, Russia’s second largest mobile telephone operator. The claim was based on the final review of the company’s 2001 tax filings by tax regulators, VimpelCom said in a press release.

Now, the company owes RUR 284.9 million (about $10.2 million) in back taxes for 2001 and RUR 205 million (about $7.4 million) in fines and penalties for the same period.

The final resolution indicates a significantly lower figure than a preliminary tax audit report for 2001, under which the company was to pay about RUR 4.4 billion in back taxes plus fines and penalties.

The document also says the tax agencies had accepted the company's objections regarding its agent relations with KB Impuls and withdrawn part of the claim.

A "significant" portion of the tax claim - about $9.1 million - is the result of authorities claiming that value-added tax offsets were made incorrectly, VimpelCom said.

Although the company does not agree with the decision, it plans to pay the amount and is considering whether to appeal some of all of the provisions of the judgment.