Mobile Content Russia

Mobile services operator life:) created the official group for VKontakte users, which is open for all of its subscribers and other followers. The newly created life:) community will publish top news, pictures, music, videos, offering contests and generating discussions.

With regard to the increasing popularity of social networks, in 2010 life:) became the first mobile service operator in Ukraine to offer free access to the most popular social networks – VKontakte and Facebook.

Now life:) is launching its official group in VKontakte, as this network is the most widely used among its subscribers.

MTS, the largest cellular network operator in Russia and CIS, has announced the full-scale roll out of UMTS/HSPA (3G) network in all regions of Armenia, one of the CIS countries. Today the third generation network is operating in 50 cities of the country.

First VivaCell-MTS 3G networks were launched in April 2009 in three major Armenian cities – Yerevan, Gyumri, and Vanadzor. The carrier is building a combined 2G/3.5G network in Armenia, using the current platforms as base stations without holdup or significant reconfiguration of GSM network.

MTS, the largest cellular network operator in Russia and CIS, has announced that MTS Uzbekistan, 100% subsidiary of JSC Mobile TeleSystems, received authorization from Uzbekistan Communication Agency for using the existing company's frequency range in building LTE network in Uzbekistan.

Bitstream (NASDAQ: BITS) today announced the availability of BOLT, the company's web browser for mobile phones of all types, to people in Russia and those reading languages in Cyrillic alphabets. BOLT, the first browser completely optimized for mobile phones, provides a desktop PC-like view of the Internet on virtually any mobile phone, from basic phones to smartphones.

BOLT was originally launched in February in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress with support for English and other Western European languages. Since that time BOLT has been installed over one million times, upgraded to include many important new features and has won the praise of media, bloggers and end-users all over the globe.

Mobile ad specialist becomes partner of Kyivstar, Ukraine's market leading operator. The deal will see Out There Media powering Kyivstar's SMS and portal ad offer with Mobucks, its multi-channel solution.

It kicked off with a Mobile Advertising campaign for Sony Ericsson that on June 1st. The campaign was a promotion for the launch of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, and directed users to a custom-developed mobile mini-site through SMS messages and mobile banners.

The campaign, which ran over two weeks, produced 1.55 million page impressions and a click-through rate of 5 per cent.

MTS, the largest cellular network operator in Russia and CIS, is eyeing possible acquisitions in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, its Chief Executive Officer, Mikhail Shamolin said in an interview with the Reuters news agency.

"There are two countries (where) we are not present yet and I believe we should be present, which is Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan," Shamolin told Reuters Financial Television on the sidelines of St Petersburg Economic Forum. He said that the company was not holding specific talks with any Kazakh or Azeri firms.

Armenian mobile operator ArmenTel (Beeline brand) celebrates its 500,000-th video call in Beeline mobile 3G network (UMTS HSPA). The subscriber who made the anniversary video call is a 37 y.o. citizen of Yerevan, Armen Grigoryan.

The first 3G network in Armenia was commercially launched in beta mode by ArmenTel on June 18, 2008. The full commercial launch was conducted in September 2008. Since that time the network handled two million calls, including 500,000 video calls.

On April, 23 Russian mobile phone retailer Euroset announced the appointment of Alexander Malis to the position of President and CEO of Euroset company. Formerly Malis held the post of Director of Broadband Access Development unit in VimpelCom.

Euroset has 5.1 thousand stores in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belorussia, Moldavia, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. Company's turnover for 2007 was $5.6 billion, revenue – $3.144 billion. In September 2008 businessman Alexander Mamut bought 100% of the company for $1.25 billion with a debt, which at that time was $850 millions. Later Mamut sold 49.9% of Euroset to VimpelCom for $226 million with an option to buy 25% more.

MTS, the largest cellular network operator in Russia and CIS countries, and Ericsson announced the launch of Mobile WAP Portal wap.mts.by based on Ericsson Mobile Services Delivery Platform (MSDP).

By entering renovated Mobile Portal, MTS Belarus subscribers get an opportunity to acquire quickly and in a simple manner various content (pictures, ringtones, games), manage personal account, change tariff plans, etc.

Mobile email and synchronisation company Synchronica, has received two expansion orders with a combined value of $645,000 (ВЈ440,000) from one of the largest mobile operators in Russia and the CIS.

The orders follow the operator's successful promotion of the Synchronica Mobile Gateway service, leading to an increase in demand for its mobile email and synchronisation solutions. Importantly, says Synchronica, take up of these services has been seen across all levels of its subscriber base, from consumers using basic handsets, to those using higher-end Smartphones.