Russia

MOSCOW, Feb 2 (Prime-Tass) -- Russian regional telecommunications operator Sibirtelecom plans to increase its investment in mobile services 60% on the year in 2006 to U.S. $160 million, the company said in a statement Thursday, citing Dmitry Levin, deputy general director and director for business development.

Sibirtelecom's mobile subscriber base rose about 100% in 2005 to 2.078 million people.

The company's average revenue per user (ARPU) from mobile services amounted to $12.6 in 2005, the company said without providing comparisons.

Sibirtelecom plans to expand the coverage of EDGE services in the licensed territory and to start offering CDMA 2000 services in the Tomsk and Irkutsk regions, the company said without providing a timeline.

The company's investments aside from mobile services are expected to amount to 4.2 billion rubles in 2006, the company said earlier.

Sibirtelecom owns 100% of Baikalvestcom, Ulan-Udenskaya Sotovaya Svyaz, Yeniseitelecom, Sayantelecom, and Stek GSM, which are all GSM mobile service providers in the Siberian Federal District.

Russian government-controlled telecom holding Svyazinvest owns 50.67% in Sibirtelecom.

(28.1042 rubles - U.S. $1)

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Posted to the site on 2nd February 2006