Volgograd Mobile (merged with MTS)

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Volgograd-Mobile was awarded a license to operate an 800 Mhz AMPS network in the Volgograd region in July 1995. The area had a total population of 2.7 million. The company started services in February 1996. Volgograd-Mobile was created as a joint venture between the local telecom company Volgogradelektrosvyaz (50%) and a foreign firm, Vostok Mobile – Netherlands (50%). The investments of Vostok Mobile in the project were estimated at US$1.25 million. Vostok-Mobile Netherlands was a unit of Global TeleSystems Group Inc. In January 2001 Vostok Mobile was acquired by MCT Corp. Volgograd Mobile received GSM 1800 license for Volgograd region and installed 79 base stations and a switchboard supplied by China's Huawei Technologies and launched its network in commercial operation in September 2002. In August 2003 Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) bought Vostok Mobile B.V. from the US MCT Corp. In August 2004 MTS became the sole owner of Volgograd-Mobile by purchasing 50% of shares from the Southern Telecommunications Company (UTK) for a reported $2.9 million. At the time Volgograd-Mobile had some 5,000 customers.