'Uralsvyazinform’s apparent inability to get a loan can largely be explained by extraneous factors: after all, the liquidity crisis unfolds on a global scale, so Russian banks that used to get cheap resources abroad easily now have a very hard time getting them,’ Unicom Partner Investment Company’s Asset Management Director Sergei Kaliberda said to UrBC.

In the meantime, the mobile operator started accepting applications from banks willing to offer them a loan on February 20, 2008. The company offered the potential creditors four 2.65-billion-ruble lots.

The company has already had a tender for 1.5 billion RUR worth of loans, but no banks applied.

‘I believe this failure had to do with the objective factors. These problems can affect the company’s shares somewhat negatively. It’s hard to say whether Uralsvyazinform is going to be luckier this time; I personally tend to think it’s a fifty-fifty chance,’ Mr. Kaliberda said.