AKOS (merged with Dalsvyaz)

active

AKOS received its license to operate an AMPS/DMPS service in the Vladivostok region in February 1993. AKOS was the first company in Primorsky Kray (with a population of 2.1 million people) to receive a license for cellular communications. The company operated under the Indigo brand name. By the end of 2004 AKOS had some 70,000 subscribers. AKOS was created in 1994 as a joint stock company by Gor Stroi, GosStrakh Primorye and RTDC (a company then 66.5%–owned by US West and subsequently MediaOne). The company started its service on March 1995, with Motorola, Nokia and Hughes as equipment suppliers. International and long-distance calls were provided via Nakhodka Telecom. The reception zone covered Vladivostok, Artem, the airport and Nakhodka. The company competed with Prim Telecom, which run a NMT 450 system by 1997, and with the New Telecom Company. In February 2002 AKOS received a license for GSM-1800 standard services. By 2003 the GSM-1800 equipment had been installed. AKOS planned to build 60 base stations to cover almost all the territory of Primorsky Kray. A leading Chinese telecommunications company, Huawei Technologies Co., won the tender held by MCT Corp. for supplying the GSM-1800 standard equipment to Akos. By the end of 2004 65,000 AKOS subscribers were using the GSM-1800 standard. In December 2004 AKOS became part of JSC Dalsvyaz (Far East Telecommunications Company), who bought JSC Integrator.ru, owner of 92.26% of AKOS shares.