Life without cell phones is hard to imagine nowadays. Keeping in touch with your friends, relatives or business colleagues is probably the most important thing when you are away. The telecommunication market of Russia has long been a sweet spot for businesses fighting for consumers. Now this segment of the market is shared and the leaders are known.
Mobile TeleSystems (MTS)
Mobile TeleSystems is the largest mobile network operator in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
MTS was founded as a closed joint stock company by the Moscow City Telephone Network in cooperation with Deutsche Telecom (DeTeMobil), Siemens and several other shareholders in October 1993. 53% of the stock was controlled by four Russian companies, while the rest of 47% was owned by two German firms. In 1995 Sistema, the largest private sector consumer services company in Russia and the CIS, acquired the stake from the Russian shareholders. At the same time DeTeMobile bought Siemens’s block of shares.
The 1st of March, 2000, is the date of creation of the Opened Joint stock Company Mobile TeleSystems as a result of merger of CJSC MTS and CJSC RTK.
Together with its subsidiaries, the Company services over 79.12 million subscribers. MTS completed its IPO and listed its Level III ADRs on the New York Stock Exchange in July 2000, under the MBT symbol. The Company’s shares have been listed locally on MICEX since November 2003, under the symbol MTSI. The Company’s GDRs are also traded in Europe. The free float of the Company’s shares is approximately 46.7%. MTS is 52.8% majority-owned by Sistema, the largest private sector consumer services company in Russia and the CIS.
VimpelCom (BeeLine)
VimpelCom JSC considers 15 September to be the birthday of the company, as that is the date when it was officially registered. The next year the Beeline trade mark was created. VimpelCom was the first Russian Company to list its shares on the NYSE in 1996 after a 90-year-long break, under the VIP symbol. In 1997 BeeLine built the first dual band GSM-900/1800 cellular network in Russia.
Today, the VimpelCom Group includes cellular companies operating in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and Armenia.
As of November 29, 2007, VimpelCom's total number of active subscribers in Russia and the CIS was 50.7 million (including 41.8 million in Russia, 4.3 million in Kazakhstan and 2.2 million in Ukraine).
MegaFon
MegaFon is the first all-Russian mobile network operator using dual band GSM-900/1800 cellular network. The company was formed in consequence of renaming and reorganization of North-West GSM and integration under one name with Sonyc Duo (Moscow), , Mobicom-KAvkaz, Mobocom Novosibirsk, Mobikom-Khabarovsk, Mobocom-Kirov and several other companies in May 2002.
MegaFon and its subsidiaries’ cellular license covers the whole territory of the Russian Federation with the population of 145 million people.
MegaFon makes use of advanced technologies in order to provide its subscribers with new communication opportunities. The company offers a unique rage of services for both mass consumers and corporate clients.
Sources:
www.mts.ru
www.beeline.ru
www.vimpelcom.ru
www.megafon.net
Olga Pletneva
