Wireless Federation

MTS Mikhail Shamolin resigns as CEO (Russia)

On 03.05.11, In Mobile, By Editor

MTS’s current CEO, Mikhail Shamolin is stepping down from the role as he is expected to be appointed to the position of President and CEO of Sistema at its board meeting. Sistema is the controlling shareholder in MTS.

Shamolin is being replaced by the current head of MTS Ukraine, Mr. Andrei Dubovskov, who takes up the role with immediate effect.

Mr. Dubovskov joined MTS in 2004 as head of the Company’s operations in Nizhny Novgorod. In the beginning of 2008, Mr. Dubovskov became Head of Business Unit MTS Ukraine, the Company’s second largest business unit in terms of revenues.

According to Mr. Ron Sommer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of MTS, they are grateful to Mikhail for the tremendous amount of work he put in and the results that were achieved under his leadership. He was instrumental in making MTS into an integrated player through the implementation of the 3i Strategy. The Board has full confidence that Andrei will continue Mikhail’s undertakings in executing on the strategic priorities of the company as it looks to extract further growth from the Russia and CIS markets of operation. Andrei’s wealth of experience in the telecommunications industry and at MTS itself provides him with the necessary skill set to take MTS to even greater heights. On behalf of the Board, he welcomes Andrei to his new position.

Following Mr. Dubovskov’s appointment, Mr. Vasyl Latsanych, the Chief Marketing Director of Business Unit MTS Ukraine will be the acting Head of Business Unit MTS Ukraine.

MTS in merger talks with unnamed companies (Russia)

On 02.02.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Russia’s MTS has confirmed that the company is in talks with other telecoms networks for a possible merger, without naming any of the potential partners.

Vladimir Yevtushenkov, the CEO of MTS’s controlling shareholder, Sistema confirmed the talks.

MTS chief executive Mikhail Shamolin had previously suggested that the company would be interested in buying out South Korea based Korea Telecom’s 80% stake in Russia-focused New Telephone Co., but that would not give the company the international scope it has long craved.

Last year, it was rumored that the Sistema Group was looking to buy the Telekom Austria Group in a deal worth in excess of US$6 billion. The Austrian state owned holding company, OeIAG holds 27% of the company, and previously looked to sell the stake.

Telekom Austria has operations in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Liechtenstein, Serbia, Macedonia, Belarus and Czech Republic. MTS also operates in Belarus, and the local government would almost certainly require that MTS sells one of its two networks in the country if it were to buy Telekom Austria.

MTS and its subsidiaries in Armenia, Belarus, Ukraine and Uzbekistan currently have over 108 million subscribers.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Armenia • Austria • Belarus • Bulgaria • CEO • Chief Executive Mikhail Shamolin • Croatia • Czech Republic • Korea Telecom • Liechtenstein • Macedonia • Mobile • MTS • New Telephone Co. • OeIAG • Russia • Serbia • Sistema • Slovenia • South Korea • Telekom Austria • Ukraine • Uzbekistan • Vladimir Yevtushenkov

MNP to start from Jan 20: Sibal (India)

On 11.26.10, In Mobile, By Editor

The new Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has announced that the much-awaited mobile number portability (MNP) will be available to more than 700 million Indian subscribers from January 20, 2011.

MNP is a service that allows subscribers to change service providers while keeping the same number.

According to Kapil Sibal, mobile number portability that they have introduced in Haryana will be available on January 20 across the country next year . As per Telecom department officials, BSNL customers had switched to Idea Cellular and used their examples to demonstrate this facility during the launch.

Mobile phone users in Haryana will be able to switch among nine operators â€” Airtel, Idea Cellular, BSNL, Aircel, Loop, Vodafone, Etisalat, Sistema and Videocon. The customer has to pay a maximum of Rs 19, the lowest in the world, to migrate to a new mobile phone company.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Aircel • Airtel • BSNL • Etisalat • Haryana • Idea Cellular • India • Loop • MNP • Mobile • Sistema • Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal • Videocon • Vodafone

MTS offers Sistema to sell Sistema Telecom

On 11.17.10, In Mobile, By Editor

Sistema has received an offer from Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) to sell 100 percent of shares of Sistema Telecom to the mobile operator for RUB 13.389bn (approx. USD 431m), the telecommunication corporation’s press office reported today.

The amount of the potential deal includes the company’s share capital of RUB 11.588bn (approx. USD 373m) and net debt of nearly RUB 1.801bn (approx. USD 59m). MTS also indicated that Sistema Telecom’s debt included its liabilities to mobile operator’s subsidiaries in the amount of RUB 1.35bn (approx. USD 44.04m).

If the deal does in fact go through, on the date of the deal’s completion, Sistema Telecom will become the owner of the rights to trademarks, including those of MTS, Comstar-UTS and MGTS (Moscow City Telephone Network), a 45-percent stake in TS Retail and promissory notes worth RUB 2bn (approx. USD 64.4m) issued by MTS.

According to Sistema, the deal is expected to be closed by the end of the year, provided that it receives all the necessary corporate and anti-trust regulator’s approvals.

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Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Comstar-UTS and MGTS • Mobile • Mobile TeleSystems • Moscow City Telephone Network • MTS • Sistema • Sistema Telecom • TS Retal

Sistema Shyam (MTS) to invest USD 55 Mn

On 05.13.10, In Mobile, By Editor

Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL), a joint venture company between Russia’s Sistema and Shyam Group of India, will be investing USD 55 Mn to expand its code division multiple access (CDMA) network in one of the southern states in India (Andhra Pradesh) by the end of this year.

MTS India has successfully launched in 12 circles now and MTS India CEO, Vsevolod Rozanov, said the plan for this year was to complete all the 22 circles with an investment of over USD 1.1 Bn.

Currently, MTS India has 4.5 million subscribers, including 72,000 for high-speed data services. Data is the future of our company and is clearly a differential business model than other aggregators. We expect data services to account for one-third of our revenues and achieve break-even by 2013,â€ Rozanov told Business Standard in India.

Replying to a query, Rozanov said the company would switch to another vendor if China-based Huawei Technologies’ products were not allowed into India.

It may be recalled that the Indian government has blocked Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation from selling telecom network equipment to domestic phone carriers due to security reasons.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Andhra Pradesh • CDMA • CEO • China • code division multiple access • Government • high speed data services • High-speed • Huawei • Huawei Technologies • India • indian government • joint venture company • MTS India • Russia • Shyam Group • Sistema • Sistema Shyam Teleservices • Subscribers • telecom network • USD • Vsevolod Rozanov • ZTE • ZTE Corp • ZTE Corporation

Telekom Austria eyed by Sistema

On 03.29.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Sistema, Russian telecommunications holding company, is seeking to bid to acquire Telekom Austria. Vladimir Yevtushenkov, who is the main owner of Sistema would be prepared to pay much more than the current share price, which values Telekom Austria at EUR 4.5 billion.

27 percent of Telekom Austria is currently held by Austrian state holding company Oeiag. However, any legal permission to sell its share is denied by Oeiag as a result of which it is unable to be in talks to sell Telekom Austria shares.

Telekom Austria has mobile operations in Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Serbia and Belarus. Sistema which has operations in Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia and Belarus is among others owner of Russia-based mobile operator MTS.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Armenia • ASIA • Austria • Belarus • Bulgaria • Croatia • Europe • LG • Liechtenstein • Macedonia • Middle East • MTS • OeIAG • operator • Russia • Serbia • Sistema • Slovenia • Telekom Austria • Turkmenistan • UK • Ukraine • Uzbekistan

SSTL targets profitability within three years (India)

On 03.29.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Profitability is seeked to be achieved by Indian mobile network operator Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL) within three years. SSTL is a joint venture between Russian mobile giant Sistema and India’s Shyam Telecom.

According to Vsevolod Rosanov, president and CEO of SSTL, the company is hoping to become earnings before interest, depreciation, tax and amortization (EBIDTA) positive by 2012-end or early 2013.

n March 2008, a pan- India license was acquired by SSTL and the telco is expecting to launch its commercial services in all 22 of the country’s telecom circles by the end of this year. While no subscriber targets has yet been announced by SSTL, it has been noted that to reach profitability the company would need to have approximately 30 million customers.

Until end-December 2009, SSTL had signed up 3.09 million subscribers.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ASIA • EBIDTA • India • operator • Russia • Sistema • Sistema Shyam Teleservices

3m subscribers mark surpassed by MTS India

On 01.08.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With 3 million subscribers, Mobile operator MTS India’s recorded 15 percent per month on average. Until May last year, the company reported 1 million subscribers while in September, it had 2 million users.

Rajasthan, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu were the fastest growing market of MTS. Tamil Nadu counts close to 500,000 MTS subscribers; Rajasthan MTS has over 1.2 million subscribers, while Kolkata and West Bengal accounted for over 700,000 subscribers. Even Karnataka and Delhi/NCR telecom circles attracted over 150,000 subscribers in the last quarter of 2009.

CDMA services under the MTS brand was launched by Shyam Teleservices, a JV between Russia-based Sistema and India’s Shyam Group in September 2008.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ASIA • CDMA • India • MTS • operator • Russia • Sistema

War triggers between GSM and CDMA operators in India over 11-digit No.

On 12.10.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: DOT’s decision to implement 11-digit numbers by January next year has triggered a war between the GSM and CDMA mobile operators putting consumer interests at stake. As per the plan, all the mobile operators will add extra 9 to all mobile numbers in the country by January 1, 2010.

AUSPI representing the interests of CDMA operators like Tatas, Reliance and Sistema, is in favour of moving to an 11-digit numbering plan while GSM operators are vehemently opposing the move. COAI which is representing GSM operators made a detailed presentation to the government claiming this move to be harmful for the industry and consumers.

According to COAI, there is hardly any growth in the number of fixed line subscribers which currently rest at 40 million. Hence, there is no need to reserve levels 2, 3, 4,5,6,7, and 8 for fixed line. It is estimated that with the three series, 7, 8 and 9, a billion plus subscribers can be served without any need for fresh allocation of levels.

On the other hand, AUSPI feels that new opportunities can come up with the implementation of an 11-digit numbering plan and will help the subscribers to migrate from the incumbent operators networks. Besides, it has also claimed that 11-digit numbers are mobile number portability compatible.

With so many contradictory views, uncertainty has been raised on the implementation of the plan by Department of Telecommunication.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Allocation • ASIA • AUSPI • CDMA • COAI • Department of Telecommunication • GSM • India • operator • Reliance • Sistema • Tata

Russian Government to buy stake in Indian Mobile Operator

On 09.23.09, In Mobile, By Editor

Russian Government is said to have budgeted $680-$780 million to acquire a 20% stake in Indian Mobile operator – Sistema Shyam TeleServices. Russia’s Sistema owns 73.71 percent in the company and India’s Shyam Group holds 23.79 percent.

Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that they were in the process of completing the appraisal to acquire the stake. It would be paid through Indian Rupee deposits that the russian government now holds.

According to sources, Avers, a St. Petersburg-based consultancy commissioned by Russia’ Federal Property Agency is said to have valued the company at around $3.4 Bn.

Sistema Shyam TeleServices operates in 6 of India’s 22 telecom circles (zones) and has licences for the remaining 16.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Government • India • Russia • Shyam • Shyam Group • Sistema • Sistema Shyam Teleservices • St Petersburg