Service-Telecom will create infrastructure operator in Uzbekistan, Gazprombank to finance project

MOSCOW. April 25 (Interfax) - The Service-Telecom group of companies is creating an operator in the telecom infrastructure market of Uzbekistan, with investment in the project estimated at 8 billion rubles and financing coming from Gazprombank .

As stated in a release from Gazprombank, the bank and the group signed a memorandum of cooperation for developing tower infrastructure in the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Service-Telecom plans to enter the Uzbek market by creating an independent infrastructure operator in Uzbekistan.

The Bank intends to provide project financing, the exact amount of which will be determined by the end of 2023.

"For Gazprombank, our financial presence in this project is an opportunity to extrapolate a successful model for Service-Telecom Group as an independent infrastructure operator in the growing market of Uzbekistan," Alexander Ushkov, First Vice President of Gazprombank, said in the release.

"The memorandum signed today is the first public step in the long-term business development plans of Service-Telecom in Central Asia," Nikolay Berdin, General Director of Service-Telecom Group, said.

Service-Telecom is a tower infrastructure operator in Russia. The company manages more than 19,000 communications facilities. Service-Telecom operates throughout the country, providing a full cycle of operations for the creation and maintenance of telecoms infrastructure for mobile operators and other companies providing digital services. Almost 99% of the group's revenue is generated by Russian federal mobile operators VimpelCom, MTS, Tele2 and MegaFon . In December 2021, Service Telecom closed a deal to purchase a portfolio of antenna mast structures from Veon Ltd. in Russia. The perimeter of the transaction included 15,400 communication facilities from the National Tower Company.