ER-Telecom acquiring two regional operators

The board of Russian service provider ER-Telecom, which providers services under the Dom.ru brand, has agreed the acquisition of operators Telemir, which operates in the Lipetsk region, and Michurinsk-Svyaz TV, which operates in the Tambov region.

The two companies have shared ownership, with Dmitry Rudnev holding a 76% stake in Telemir and his partner Alexey Bolbenkov holding a 24% stake. The pair hold 51% and 49% stakes respectively in Michurinsk-Svyaz-TV.

The acquisition of Michurinsk-Svyaz-TV, which operates in the city of Michurinsk, will see ER-Telecom expand into Tambov Oblast, in southern-central European Russia, for the first time. Michurinsk has a population of about 100,000.

Lipetsk, the principal city of Libetsk Oblast, situated in the same part of the country, has a population of about half a million.

According to TMT Consulting, cited by ComNews, the two operators have about 20,000 broadband and 32,000 pay TV subscribers between them.

ER-Telecom has been expanding its operations, acquiring St Petersburg operator TKS Neva and Yekaterinburg operator Akado Yekaterinburg from the Akado group late last year.