Ukraine's competition authority has suspended its earlier approval of the merger of local mobile operator Kyivstar and Russia's Vimpelcom following a complaint from rival Astelit, which runs the Life:) mobile network in Ukraine. Astelit asked the Ukrainian authorities to re-examine the deal, and the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine said it will review the prospective deal again, looking at mobile market revenues and spectrum holdings, in addition to susbcriber market share figures. The merger is the result of Telenor and Altimo agreeing to combine their shares in the two companies in the new company Vimpelcom Ltd. The takeover of Vimpelcom's Beeline Ukraine will strengthen Kyistar's position on the Ukraine mobile market as well as help its expansion in fixed-line services with the former Golden Telecom activities. Vimeplcom Ltd has just completed a share swap offer for Vimpelcom's old shares, with the squeeze-out of minority shareholders expected to close by the end of May. The Ukraine regulatory review, which coud last several months, will delay implementation of the deal and could result in concessions on integrating the two companies.
