Russia's MegaFon eyes $4.6 bln investment in Iran

MOSCOW, May 13 (Reuters) - Russia's third-largest mobile phone operator, MegaFon, is prepared to invest around 3 billion euros ($4.64 billion) to build a GSM network in Iran, the company said late on Monday.

MegaFon hopes to win a tender for the third GSM licence in Iran, the firm quoted its general director Sergei Soldatenkov as saying at the opening of a representative office in Tehran.

There are currently two mobile service providers in Iran -- state-controlled Iran Telecommunication Company (ITC) and MTN Group (MTNJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research), sub-Saharan Africa's biggest cellphone operator.

Iran, which has 28 million mobile phone users, is expected to auction its third GSM licence in the middle of this year but the tender has not been announced yet.

MegaFon said in February it was considering long-term investment opportunities in the Iranian telecommunication sector while Western firms are wary of investing in Iran after the United Nations imposed sanctions over its nuclear programme.

The sanctions, which Russia joined last week, impose restrictions on travel and financial transactions with certain Iranian individuals and companies.

MegaFon currently has more than 36 million clients mainly in Russia, lagging behind market leaders Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) (MBT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Vimpelcom (VIP.N: Quote, Profile, Research). Besides Russia, MegaFon's only other part of the ex-Soviet pie is Tajikistan.

On Monday, Russian media reported that billionaire Alisher Usmanov had bought control of 39.3 percent of shares in MegaFon. Other large shareholders in MegaFon are Sweden's TeliaSonera AB (TLSN.ST: Quote, Profile, Research) and private equity vehicle Alfa Group. (Writing by Maria Kiselyova; editing by Sue Thomas)