MOSCOW. Aug 9 (Interfax) - MegaFon , one of Russia's top three mobile operators, is close to completing a long-awaited deal to acquire wireless broadband provider Yota.

The deal values Scartel (infrastructure operator Yota Networks) and the Yota retail brand at about $1.9 billion.

Barring any legal complications, as early as September MegaFon will officially become the operator with the country's largest frequency resource for LTE networks. The legal disputes concerning Scartel's frequencies (Summa Telecom and EROS tried unsuccessfully to challenge the distribution of 2.5-2.7 GHz frequencies in Russia) and an antimonopoly investigation against the company (the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service suspected Scartel of discriminating against other players) have been concluded.

Deal structure

On Wednesday the MegaFon board of directors approved the purchase from its controlling shareholder, Garsdale Holding, of Cyprus-registered Maxiten Co Ltd, which owns 100% of Scartel LLC and Yota LLC.

MegaFon shareholders will take up the deal at an EGM on September 12. As this is an interested-party deal, Garsdale will not be voting, and the deal has to be approved by a majority of disinterested stockholders.

TeliaSonera, which owns 25.17% of MegaFon, has said it intends to vote in favor of the purchase.

"TeliaSonera has done a thorough review, analyzing the merits and potential risks of this transaction during the past few months. [