Mobile Content Russia

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.

TELE2 Russia announced its consolidated results for the third quarter and 9 months of 2009 in Russia and plans for further development of these operations.

During Q3 2009 TELE2 Russia continued with its strategy of improving the operational contribution of its 17 mature regions to support the roll-out of commercial networks in its 20 new regions. In the quarter, 7 of the new regions were commercially launched: Bryansk, Novosibirsk, Tula, Tambov, Tver, Orel Regions and Adygei Republic. The market's response has been better than expected compared to the business plan.

MegaFon Caucasian branch has announced the launch of 3G network in Chechnya Republic. The carrier invested about 500 million rubles (17 million dollars) in building the network. Now 116 3G base stations operate in the republic, - altogether they provide high quality radio coverage on large scale. New 3G services will be available for all subscribers in 3G coverage area with UMTS handsets or special USB-modem.

VimpelCom (which operates under the Beeline trademark) published the rating of content-providers for September 2009. Top-20 is based on total fee paid to companies by VimpelCom for providing services via partner programs (voice, SMS, WAP). Top 5 companies in the rating are Zed Russian (former INFON), A1, i-Free, SMS Online, and IncoreMedia. A new company RM-Invest (SMS-Dostup) appeared in the list.

1. Zed Russia (INFON)
2. A1
3. i-Free
4. SMS Online
5. IncoreMedia
6. Neva Line
7. Plastic Media
8. Next Media Channels (part of Next Media Group)
9. Iricom
10. Inform-Mobil/IMMO

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.

MVNO «PROSTO dlya obscheniya» («Simply for communication») has announced that it has signed up more than 350,000 subscribers. Promotion campaign and pricing down of data plans have significantly improved the sales figures, - the company hopes to sign up half a million subscribers by the end of this year. In august the number of MVNO subscribers reached 260,000 users.

MTS, the largest cellular network operator in Russia and CIS, has announced 100% acquisition of mobile phone retail chain Teleforum from its earlier owners EWINSER INVESTMENT S.A. (BVI) and a private individual.

The deal totaled 11 million dollars 20% of which the seller will get with the closing of the deal and 80% will be paid out after 12 months subject to fulfillment of several agreement terms, including the compliance of the performance figures of the acquired company with the deal's requirements.

MTS, the largest cellular network operator in Russia and CIS, has successfully secured financing from Sberbank through two loans in the amount of RUB 47 billion and RUB 12 billion.

The loan of RUB 47 billion boasts a maturity in September 2013 with an annual interest rate of 16%. The funds will used for MTS' overall investment programs, including funding of the SPV for the pending acquisition of a 50.91% stake in COMSTAR-UTS, a leading supplier of integrated telecommunication solutions in Russia and the CIS. The closing of the COMSTAR-UTS transaction is anticipated for October 2009.

Colibria, in partnership with Acision, the world's leading messaging company, today announced that it has enabled Russia's largest operator, MTS, , to interconnect its 'Chat' Mobile Instant Messenger (MIM) service with MegaFon and VimpelCom (which operates under the Beeline trademark). This allows subscribers of the three operators to seamlessly exchange messages across their respective services. The new service, which will be jointly branded as 'Chat' across all three networks, builds on year-on-year growth in messaging for MTS since 2008. This trend is expected to continue by the expansion of messaging access across Russian subscriber communities.

Millicom has signed an agreement for the sale of its 74.1% holding in its Laos operation, to Russia's VimpelCom (which operates under the Beeline trademark) for approximately US$65 million in total cash proceeds, payable on completion. The transaction values the entire Laos operation at an enterprise value of approximately $102 million, which represents 7.5x estimated 2009 EBITDA.

Completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, as required. If such approvals are obtained, completion is expected to take place before the end of 2009.