MTS tariff plans make Russia’s distances shorter. Moscow, Russian Federation — 15 November, 2001 — Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (NYSE: MBT), Russia’s largest GSM 900/1800 mobile operator, today announces the launch of three new tariffs, which upgrade and replace tariffs previously offered by the company. The new tariffs offer substantially reduced call costs and further segment the market, allowing subscribers to select a tariff plan tailored to match their life style and budget.
The new tariffs are named “President”, “Efficient” and “Ten”, and they replace the “Business” and “Saver” tariffs, which become obsolete as of November 15, 2001.
The new “President” tariff supercedes the “Business” tariff. The main feature of this tariff is that it offers the lowest daytime air charge among tariffs with direct numbers offered by Moscow mobile operators. MTS subscribers with a more prestige Moscow direct number will now pay only 191 cents per minute, per call around-the-clock. The “President” tariff is best suited to meet the needs of subscribers who hold lots of business conversations over mobile phones and talk a lot with their colleagues and partners in other cities. The per minute cost of a call to an MTS subscriber in most Russian cities within MTS network equals the cost of a local call or even a reduced mobile-to-mobile call.
The “President” tariff is also very attractive for individuals who spend a lot of time on their mobile phone. The per minute cost of outgoing mobile-to-mobile calls to other MTS subscribers is 161 cents around-the-clock.
The “Efficient” tariff plan is best suited for those who use their mobiles during business hours and are subscribed with federal numbers. The per minute call cost to fixed line phones under “Efficient” is 151 cents around-the-clock. This cost also applies to MTS subscribers in the Orel, Bryansk, Kursk, Voronezh, Lipetsk, Belgorod regions and Republic of Udmurtia.
Mobile-to-mobile outgoing calls within the MTS network are cheaper under the “Efficient” tariff, which offers outgoing calls at only 11 cents1 per minute around-the-clock. This is a 26% discount compared to the cost per call to other networks. The same reduced tariffs are valid for outgoing calls to mobile phones of MTS subscribers-inhabitants of the Tula, Kaluga, Pskov, Ryazan, Vladimir, Smolensk, Tver, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov regions and Komi Republic. The “Efficient” tariff replaces the “Saver” tariff.
The “Ten” tariff plan is a unique offer for the Moscow GSM market. This tariff applies a new principle of call charging with ten-second intervals. The cost of each ten seconds of a call, while making any local call as well as any call to MTS subscribers within other MTS regions, is 41 cents. The major benefit is that subscribers who tend to keep their conversations very short save compared to the other MTS tariff plans, where the first minute is charged in full.
Commenting on the introduction of the new tariffs, MTS’s marketing director Igor Timofeev said: “The three new tariffs that MTS now offers its subscribers reflect the company’s aim of not only making mobile communications available to everyone, but also practically eliminating long distance charges. MTS now operates in most regions of the European part of Russia, and one of the benefits of this for our subscribers is that we can offer heavily discounted long distance service charges.”
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The above prices in this press release are exclusive VAT and sales tax. |
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For further information contact:
Press Secretary
Eva Prokofieva
tel: +7 (095) 104-49-38
e-mail: eva@mts.ru
Investor Relations department tel: +7 (095) 766-01-03
Fax: +7 (095) 766-01-00
e-mail: ir@mts.ru |
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. 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 conform them to actual results. We refer you to the documents MTS files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Form 20-F. These documents contain and identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned “Risk Factors” in our Form 20-F, 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, volatility of stock price, financial risk management, and future growth subject to risks. Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (NYSE: MBT) is Russia’s leading GSM 900/1800 mobile cellular operator. MTS has GSM 900/1800 licenses to provide mobile cellular telephony services in 46 regions of the Russian Federation, covering 86 million people or 56% of the country’s population. MTS network has operations in 26 regions, which cover more than 55,6 million people or 38% of the population of the Russian Federation. Additional information about MTS can be found on MTS’s website at https://www.mtsgsm.com. |
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