Russian telecom analyst's view on ANDR
From Bloomberg:
Andersen Group Plans $350 Mln Russian Cable Venture (Update4)
By Laura Zelenko and Guy Faulconbridge
Andersen Group Plans $350 Mln Russian Cable Venture (Update4)
(Adds closing stock price.)
Moscow, Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) 16:55 -- Andersen Group Inc., a U.S.
company with stakes in a Russian telecommunications and metals
company, said it plans a $350 million joint venture in Moscow to
provide cable television and high-speed Internet access.
Andersen said its venture with Moscow Telecommunications
Corp., an eight-year-old company started with support from the
city government, initially will target 1.5 million homes in
central Moscow. Each partner will provide $33 million in equity
for the project. Other financing, to be spread over four years,
will come in part from U.S.-supplied equipment and bank loans.
Andersen Group shares jumped 21 31/32 to 28 today. Earlier,
the stock traded as high as 40.
Andersen, based in New York, is counting on 50,000
subscribers for its COMCOR-TV service in the first year alone,
offering high-tech equipment at higher rates than the lowest-cost
provider in a city of close to 10 million. Analysts said that
could be difficult given the strength of AO Moscow City Telephone
Network, which dominates the market.
``This is a very new venture and a very ambitious venture,'
said Vladimir Bagrov, a telecommunications analyst at CentreInvest
Securities in Moscow. ``The major problem is -- how can I put it -
- that the (Moscow) telecommunications market is a very hard one
to break into.'
COMCOR-TV will offer a wide range of cable TV and Internet
access, and in the future will offer such services as video-on-
demand, on-line marketing.
``There's a huge economic opportunity in Moscow,' said Frank
Baker, chairman of Andersen Group. ``This is an under-serviced
market.' |
