"As chairman of the board of Svyazinvest, I can say that this issue is not being discussed at present," Leonid Reiman said. "I doubt it will be done before Svyazinvest privatization."
Russia's economic development and trade minister had previously said Svyazinvest, which owns networks covering over 90% of Russia, could be privatized this year, but not before the third quarter.
One of Svyazinvest's regional operators, Uralsvyazinform [RTS: URSIG], recently completed a merger of its mobile assets into a subsidiary company.
Another Svyazinvest regional operator, VolgaTelecom [RTS: NNSI], said March 15 that plans for establishment of a mobile subsidiary would be drafted by April 1, 2006.
Svyazinvest's regional operators provide both traditional telephony and new telecoms services (internet, data transmission, and multimedia) across Russia, while its subsidiary, Rostelecom, connects Russia with 211 countries worldwide.
