Businessweek

Mobile TeleSystems OJSC provides telecommunication services in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The company provides a range of mobile and fixed line voice and data telecommunications services, including transmission, broadband, pay-TV and various value-added services, as well as sells equipment and accessories. As of December 31, 2011, the company had a mobile subscriber base of approximately 101.14 million (approximately 69.95 million in Russia, 19.51 million in Ukraine, 9.30 million in Uzbekistan, and 2.38 million in Armenia). Mobile Operations Services Offered Network Access The company primarily offers mobile cellular voice and data communication services to its subscribers on the basis of various tariff plans designed for different market segments. Automatic Roaming As of December 31, 2011, the company had bilateral roaming contracts with 711 wireless operators in 228 countries, including with regional operators in Russia. In Russia, in addition to its network coverage area in 82 of the 83 regions of Russia, GSM service was available to its subscribers in the Penza region where the company operated through its roaming agreements with 11 regional operators. Value-Added Services The company offers various value-added services to its customers. These services are included in the tariff plan selected by the subscriber or subscribers may pay additional monthly charges and, in some cases, usage charges for them. Some basic value-added services that the company offers include Blackberry, Call divert/Forwarding, Caller ID Display, Anti-caller ID Display, Conference Calling, Wi-Fi, Location-Based Service (LBS), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Intelligent call assistant, APN remote access point, Fixed Mobile Convergence, EDGE, E-shop, Call Barring, SMS, Mobile Office, Voicemail, Mobile banking, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), MTS-Connect, SIM-browser, Point-to-point transfer, Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD), High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), Mobile TV, Call Waiting, MMS, Melody Ring Tones, Missed Call Alert, Itemization of Monthly Bills, Information and Directory Service, International Access Service, WEB and WAP portal, Real IP, Automatic Customer Care, System and Customer Care, System via the Internet, Ring Back Tone, and Collect call. The company also provides voice and SMS-based value-added services in cooperation with various content providers. GPRS and Internet Access The company offers GPRS services, enabling its subscribers to access the Internet, WAP and MMS in all of the countries where the company operate. The company also provides international GPRS roaming to its subscribers, enabling them to use various GPRS-based services while traveling abroad. In 2005, the company launched EDGE services in the Moscow metropolitan area. Further, the company extended its data transmission network to expand EDGE services to cover the most developed markets where the company operates. EDGE is a high-speed, data transfer technology capable of transmitting streamline video and TV programs onto mobile phones. EDGE services are available to its subscribers in Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Belarus. The company also offers the MTS-Connect service, which allows its subscribers to get mobile Internet access through a GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA/HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) connection, using a computer, PC-card and USB-modem. This service is available to its subscribers in Russia and Ukraine and in approximately 181 countries where the company has GPRS roaming. The company signed an agreement with Research In Motion in September 2005 to offer BlackBerry services to its subscribers in the CIS. In addition to corporate users, the company also provides BlackBerry services to individual subscribers in Ukraine and in Moscow and the Moscow region in Russia. In May 2009, the company launched Blackberry Internet Service in Moscow and the Moscow region, and in October 2009, the company launched commercial operations of BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) and BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) in 39 regions of Russia, and expanded such services to