Russian Market Consolidation Continues

Russia's Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) says that it has acquired an additional 24% of Gorizont RT, a GSM mobile phone operator in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in the Far East of Russia. In line with its strategy of consolidating the Company's ownership in the subsidiaries, MTS has acquired the remaining 24% stake in Gorizont RT for US$13.47 million. In November 2004 MTS acquired a 76% controlling stake in the company after winning a government privatization tender. As a result of today's transaction, MTS' ownership in Gorizont RT increases to 100%.

Gorizont RT is the sole mobile services provider in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), a region in the Russian Far East with a population of 949.3 thousand. The company's subscriber base reached 130.3 thousand subscribers at the end of May 2005 with a mobile penetration in the region of approximately 14%.

MTS is the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS. Together with its subsidiaries, the Company services over 42.3 million subscribers. The regions of Russia, as well as Belarus, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, in which MTS and its subsidiaries are licensed to provide GSM services, have a total population of approximately 226.5 million."

Posted to the site on 6th June 2005