“Beeline is leaving the [Georgian] market and selling the business,” announced the chairman of the communications commission Kakha Bekauri. The chairman of the commission named weakened competition in the sector as the reasoning behind the decision, saying that Georgia was an experimental market for Beeline.
“Telia Sonera exited the market after which Silknet bought Geocell; before that, throughout the 2 years, when Telia Sonera wanted to leave the market it was not making any investments and wasn’t taking any measures to develop the network and that lefts its mark on the company and weakened Geocell.
Today I can openly say that Beeline did not have the capacity to offer 4G and could not compete with these two companies. However, the commission gave them 800 frequency and were able to develop 4G, despite the fact that the Georgian market was an experiment for them. Beeline has also decided to leave this market, they are also selling the business. Therefore, they are also not entering the competition. These facts weakened the competition on the market. That’s why there is a risk dominant and powerful companies on the retail market taking advantage of the consumers. Therefore, it is necessary that the regulator has the capacity to protect the interests of the consumers, which we will absolutely ensure” – states Bekauri.
VEON Georgia (Beeline brand) entered the Georgian market in 2007. VEON Georgia is part of the connection network and internet service provider international group VEON, the head office of which is in Amsterdam. VEON shares are placed on the NASDAQ (New York) and Eruonext (Amsterdam) stock exchanges. VEON offers its services to 210 million customers worldwide across 10 different countries and provides fixed, data, and internet service.
