MTS wins two prestigious Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards
17 September 2008
Moscow, Russian Federation – Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (“MTS” – NYSE: MBT), the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS, announces that it has won two 2008 Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards in “Marketing strategy and service innovation” and “International mobile service innovation” categories.
Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards reward the most innovative projects and initiatives undertaken by companies in the telecommunications industry.
Ms. Cynthia Gordon, Chief Marketing Officer of MTS Group, received the awards in London on September 9, 2008. She commented: “We would like to thank Global Telecoms Business for acknowledging MTS’ innovative solutions. Such recognition is a testament to our organizational development and evidence of leadership in our markets of Russia and the CIS.”
MTS received the award in the “Marketing strategy and service innovation” category for its customer-centric lifestyle segmentation. The company offers a broad range of innovative tariffs aimed at specific customer segments, which include among others youth, guest workers, women, families and small businesses. MTS has been very active in developing a segmented approach to marketing in order to attract a broad range of subscribers to its network – the largest in Russia and the CIS.
MTS also received the award in the “International mobile service innovation” category for a joint project with Atos Origin for Worldline global recharge service. MTS partnered with Atos Origin to enable customers to recharge their balance when traveling abroad through cross-border airtime transfers. The service can support both own top-up and third-party airtime recharge by a variety of payment means, including payments by using widespread prepaid vouchers from third-parties. The list of participants in the project included such companies as Play (Poland), Vodafone (Egypt), Maxis (Malaysia), DTAC (Thailand) and StarHub (Singapore). The geography of the project will be constantly expanding as more operators from different countries join the list.
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For further information, please contact:
Mobile TeleSystems, Moscow
Investor Relations
Tel: +7 495 223 2025
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Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (“MTS”) is the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS. Together with its subsidiaries, the Company services over 87.26 million subscribers. The regions of Russia, as well as Armenia, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, in which MTS and its associates and subsidiaries are licensed to provide GSM services, have a total population of more than 230 million. Since June 2000, MTS’ Level 3 ADRs have been listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol MBT). Additional information about MTS can be found on MTS’ website at www.mtsgsm.com.
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Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of MTS, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify forward looking statements by terms such as “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “will,” “could,” “may” or “might,” and the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. We wish to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements to reflect events and circumstances occurring after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. We refer you to the documents MTS files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the Company’s most recent Form 20-F. These documents contain and identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned “Risk Factors” that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among others, potential fluctuations in quarterly results, our competitive environment, dependence on new service development and tariff structures, rapid technological and market change, acquisition strategy, risks associated with telecommunications infrastructure, risks associated with operating in Russia and the CIS, volatility of stock price, financial risk management and future growth subject to risks.
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