Russian telcos to get stakes in LTE venture

MOSCOW, RUSSIA: Russian top telecom operators MTS, Vimpelcom, MegaFon and Rostelecom will each get 20 percent stakes in a new mobile internet venture, Russia's Communications Minister said.

The new company will be created on the basis of operator Yota and will operate on frequencies that Yota already holds for the construction of fourth-generation, high-speed technology network, Igor Shchyogolev said on Thursday.

Yota's Chief Executive Denis Sverdlov said the four telecoms will share Yota-built infrastructure and have an option to get 20 percent stake in the company not before 2014, adding the new company planned to borrow $2 billion in bank loans by 2014 to finance the network construction