The second largest Russian mobile operator in terms of revenue, OAO MegaFon, has surpassed its larger competitor OAO Mobile Telesystems in terms of market value after it had pledged to pay out US$1.3 billion in dividends. The dividend payout beat analysts' earlier forecasts for the telecommunication firm.
MegaFon's controlling shareholder is Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov as well as reported shareholdings by TeliaSonera AB of Sweden. The share values of the firm jumped 1% in mid afternoon trading at the London bourse, further increasing the gains of the shares to 69% since its IPO last November. The current share price values MegaFon at US$20.9 billion compared to MTS's US$20.7 billion.
The investments done by MegaFon in improving the data speed of its network has left MTS in the backburner for the Russian public's appetite to be online, surfing the Net and watching video on their wireless devices. MegaFon's data revenue increased by 23% in the first quarter of 2013, further expanding its profit margins.
For the dividend, each investor would receive 64.51 rubles or US$2.05 per ordinary share as a payout for the previous year and the first quarter of the current year.
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