On 10 July, the Armenian State Commission on the Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC) and the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) allowed the Amsterdam-based telecommunications company VEON to sell Armenia’s oldest fixed-line and mobile phone networks to a recently established Armenian firm which was set up by Hayk and Aleksandr Yesayan, reported the Armenian Radio Free Europe.

The regulatory bodies’ approval of the proposed acquisition was conditional on Team pledging to not lay off more than 10% of VEON Armenia employees for at least six months. Many of those employees were reportedly worried about losing their jobs as a result of the takeover.

Major Armenian mobile operator, Ucom, was on course to buy VEON until being thrown into turmoil on 10 April following the scandalous resignation of its chief executive, Hayk Yesayan, and his deputy and brother Aleksandr (Caucasus Watch reported). The brothers, who held a nearly 6% stake in Ucom, tried unsuccessfully to buy the rest of the company controlled by the extended family of Gagik Khachatryan, a former finance minister arrested last August on corruption charges. Khachatryan’s family claimed that “high-ranking” Armenian officials have threatened to arrest him if he and his brother refuse to cede control of Ucom and another major IT firm (Caucasus Watch reported). 

The Ucom officials expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision of the regulatory bodies, saying that for almost a year the Yesayan brothers had negotiated with VEON in their capacity as top Ucom executives and exploited that experience to negotiate a similar deal for their new company in a matter of weeks. They claimed that this amounted to unfair competition.