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Comvik seeks a return to MobiFone? [TeleGeography CommsUpdate](TeleGeography CommsUpdate Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sweden's Comvik International has allegedly expressed an interest in investing in MobiFone when the Vietnamese mobile operator undergoes privatisation, Saigon Times reports. Under a ten-year business cooperation contract (BCC) agreed in 1995, Comvik International held a 45% stake in MobiFone (with state-run national PTO Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Corporation [VNPT] holding the remainder) until ownership passed back to the state in May 2005. MobiFone was separated from VNPT last month and put under the management of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), ahead of a sale of shares in the cellco via an initial public offering (IPO) scheduled for completion in 2015. According to the report, Comvik has met with officials from the MIC to express its interest in becoming a strategic partner in MobiFone. The cellco's chairman Mai Van Binh said VNPT could retain up to a 20% stake in the company – the maximum allowed under new legislation that states that a company or individual cannot hold over 20% of shares in more than one telecoms operator (VNPT also owns 100% of mobile operator Vinaphone). (c) 2014 PriMetrica, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |