Telecom holding VEON, the parent company of Ukrainian operator Kyivstar, has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of Uzbek provider Rubicon Wireless. The total amount of the deal, including debt obligations, reached almost $207 million.
Telecom holding VEON, the parent company of Ukrainian operator Kyivstar, has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of Uzbek provider Rubicon Wireless. The total amount of the deal, including debt obligations, reached almost $207 million.
According to the company's official data, of the total acquisition cost, about $93 million is outstanding Perfectum debt, which is transferred to the buyer. VEON plans to finance this transaction entirely from its own resources. All necessary permits from regulatory authorities have already been received, and the final closing of the procedure is expected by the end of October 2026.
The main value of the acquired asset lies in the telecommunications infrastructure. VEON will receive frequencies with a total width of 115 MHz in the 850 and 3800 MHz bands, as well as a ready-made 5G Standalone network, which was built on equipment from technology giant Nokia.
This infrastructure is planned to be integrated with the capacities of Beeline Uzbekistan, another local asset of the holding. It is expected that such a merger will allow to increase the company's available frequency spectrum in the country by approximately 50%, as well as significantly expand the coverage of high-speed mobile Internet and fixed wireless access services. In addition, it will allow to optimize the group's operating and capital expenses in this market.
The international group VEON currently operates in the markets of five countries: Ukraine, where it owns the largest telecom operator Kyivstar, as well as Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan. The latter market, with a population of about 40 million people, is considered one of the most promising for the implementation of new digital services. In total, the holding serves more than 150 million mobile subscribers and more than 228 million users of digital services worldwide.
