MTS expands coverage in West Bengal

Scales up presence to 11 districts of the state

Delhi, June 15, 2009: Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited (SSTL), the latest entrant in the Indian mobile telephony space, today announced the launch of it’s fifth circle and has expanded the coverage of its service brand MTS to eleven districts of West Bengal. This foray marks the swift entry of MTS into 250 towns of the state, in addition to Kolkata where services were launched a month ago.

Speaking on the MTS’ expansion strategies, Mr. Vsevolod Rozanov, President and CEO of Sistema Shyam TeleServices, said, “We’ve witnessed phenomenal growth in the last six months, with MTS crossing the one million subscriber base mark and expanding its geographical presence to new circles in quick succession. The foray into new service areas of West Bengal is yet another milestone, reflective of the continued growth momentum of MTS in India’”.

“The widened coverage in West Bengal, within less than two months of operations in the state, gives us the confidence to build an extensive network and reach out to all the 18 districts of by the end of July. Our inaugural scheme of “Minute Millionaires” and the second lifetime offer received an overwhelming response in Kolkata. We intend to replicate this success in the new service areas with host of special offerings and tariff plans,” added Mr. Keshhav Tiwary, COO, West Bengal.

MTS has over one million subscribers across cities of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan and Kolkata. The company has rapidly expanded to 547 towns in Tamil Nadu, 262 towns in Kerala in less than two months of operations in the states.

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About Sistema Shyam Teleservices

Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL) is a joint venture company between Sistema {LSE: SSA} of Russia and Shyam Group of India. Sistema is the majority share holder in this joint venture with a 74% equity stake, along with the Shyam Group, holding a 23.5% stake and the rest 2.5% being public partake. SSTL has spectrum to provide mobile telephony services in all the 22 circles across the country. In a recent development, SSTL tied up with Mobile TeleSystems OJSC of Russia to bring the globally acclaimed telecom brand-MTS-to India. MTS is the 8th largest telecom brand in the world and has recently been voted as the 71st ranked brand out of 100 top global brands in the world by Millward Brown.

For further details visit: www.mtsindia.in

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