Marchenko against limiting foreign participation in telecommunications

There is no need to limit foreign participation in the Kazakhstani telecommunication companies, Grigory Marchenko, first vice premier, stated that at a press conference in Astana on 24 February.

"This limitation is not needed, we must be competitive", - the vice premier has stressed. "We have already passed this stage at the financial market", - he has reminded.

G. Marchenko also believes that it is "wrong to limit foreign participation also in the mass media".

Earlier it was reported that the government of Kazakhstan had been going to limit the participation of foreign capital in telecommunication companies by 49 per cent in 2004. In relation with this the government submitted a package of amendments to the laws "On communication" and "On national security" to the parliament. The main argument of supporters of this innovation is observation of national security interests and a necessity for participation of communication operators in the police system of operational investigation measures.

In its turn the National Telecommunication Association (NTA) of RK addressed a letter to the president and parliament of RK with a request to abolish items limiting the foreign participation share in the ventures of that area. The NTA representatives believe that such limitation impeded significantly the development of the area in the nearest future. Besides, opponents of the innovations believe, the limitation of foreign capital share will reduce the liquidity of assets, invested in the ventures, and decrease tools for investments in the future. Therefore, the investment attractiveness of the market of telecommunications of Kazakhstan will fall in general, its growth will slow down, the technical backwardness of national ventures directly depending on innovations will be growing. Besides, the consumers will also be inflicted, because the quality of communication will be worse, while its costs will be growing.