Chechnya Prime Minister Still Unhappy with MegaFon

GROZNY, April 10 (Prime-Tass) -- Ramzan Kadyrov, prime minister of Russia's constituent republic of Chechnya, said he was still unhappy with the services of Russia?s third largest mobile operator MegaFon, the only mobile operator in the republic.

"Tariffs for mobile services have been cut, but it is now impossible to get a call through," Kadyrov said on April 8, speaking at a meeting of the United Russia political party.

Mobicom-Kavkaz, a subsidiary of MegaFon, gets about 36 million rubles in revenues daily, but "its management does not invest money in the development and improvement of mobile services in Chechnya," Kadyrov said, adding that the company should resolve the problem.

Kadyrov said in mid-March that MegaFon may be forced to stop operations in Chechnya if it does not improve quality and reduce tariffs.

Following Kadyrov's statement, MegaFon substantially cut its tariffs for its services in the republic.

MegaFon?s subscriber base in Chechnya stands at about 300,000 users.

Besides MegaFon, Russia?s second largest mobile operator VimpelCom also has a license for Chechnya but has not deployed its network there yet.

(27.6077 rubles - U.S. $1)

End"

Posted to the site on 10th April 2006