Chechnya's Deputy PM Wants Competition on Mobile Mkt

MOSCOW, April 24 (Prime-Tass) -- The government of Russia's constituent republic of Chechnya wants to see competition between mobile operators in the republic, Ziyad Sabsabi, deputy prime minister of the republic, told a round table meeting on Monday.

At the moment, mobile services in Chechnya are only offered by Russia?s third largest mobile operator MegaFon.

"We receive proposals from foreign companies that want to invest in mobile services in the republic. But we want to work only with Russian operators," Sabsabi said.

Before Russia's two largest mobile opertaors, Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) and VimpelCom, have to receive approval from federal security bodies, Sabsabi said without elaborating.

The republic's government has received a letter from MTS saying that it wants to start offering mobile services in Chechnya.

Meanwhile, Nikolai Onufriyev, director of VimpelCom's North Caucasus branch, said that the company is waiting for approval from security agencies to start operating radio electronic equipment in the republic. VimpelCom's application was expected to have been approved last week, he said without elaborating.

Currently, VimpelCom has neither permission to use mobile equipment in the republic, nor allocated frequencies, he said.

VimpelCom's CEO Alexander Izosimov said in February that the company has a license to operate in Chechnya but needs to get permission, a decision that mostly depends on the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service.

MTS does not have a license to operate in Chechnya.

MegaFon, which has about 300,000 users in Chechnya, has been recently criticized by the republic?s authorities for its high tariffs and poor service quality.

End"

Posted to the site on 24th April 2006