Beeline is negotiating the purchase of the IBS DataFort cloud provider, which is part of the IBS group. This is reported by TAdviser with reference to a knowledgeable source.

According to the source, negotiations on the deal were in the final stage at the end of March. It has not been announced whether Beeline plans to acquire control in IBS DataFort or the entire company. Beeline and IBS DataFort refused to comment on the information, but they did not refute the negotiations on the deal.

Beeline's interest in acquiring a cloud provider is not unique among the largest operators. For example, in 2019, MTS through its subsidiary Vostok Mobile B.V. bought 100% of the "IT-grad 1 cloud"  cloud provider for 2.5 billion rubles. MTS explained the purchase of IT-grad by the desire to strengthen itself in the Russian market of cloud services. And in 2018, the operator acquired the owner of the Avantage data center for 8.9 billion rubles.

Original (in Russian)