The five companies are Ukraine’s Mobile Communications (UMC), Kyivstar, Ukrainian RadioSystems, Golden Telecom and Astelit.

The government’s recent sale of a UMTS/WCDMA third generation (3G) standard license to state-owned fixed-line telecommunication provider Ukrtelecom without a tender violates Ukrainian legislation, the executives argued.

The executives criticized the Ukrainian tax authorities’ decision to claim back value-added tax (VAT) for 2002-2004 imposed on mobile operators’ contributions to the country’s Pension Fund, which amounted to 6% of their revenue.

According to information provided by the companies’ executives, the authorities have filed a 68 million hryvna back tax claim against UMC, a 38 million hryvna back tax claim against Kyivstar, a 250,000 hryvna back tax claim against Astelit and a 2 million hryvna back tax claim against Golden Telecom.

The executives also castigated the Antimonopoly Committee’s excessive intervention in pricing. Ukrainian mobile providers had a total of 23.22 million subscribers as of October 1.

© Prime-Tass