MTS INDIA REACHES 2 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS

Registers the highest Month-to-Month % subscriber base growth in August 2009 at 16.8%

Doubles its subscriber base from 1 million in just over 3 months

Gurgaon, September 24, 2009: MTS, the mobile telephony services brand of Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL), today announced that it has reached a base of 2 million subscribers. According to a latest reports on Indian Telecommunications, MTS also became the fastest growing Indian telecom service provider (wireless and wireline) with a month-on-month growth rate of 16.8% in August 2009. In fact, MTS was the only telecom brand to have registered a double-digit month-on-month growth in August across all CDMA and GSM operators.

Speaking on the achievement, Mr. Vsevolod Rozanov, President and CEO of Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited, “Having started our operations in India in September 2008, and having launched the MTS brand in India only earlier this year, we are really excited at the fast pace at which we have been winning customer confidence in the country. We crossed the second million in less than half the time taken to reach the first one million!”

SSTL reached its first 1 million subscribers in May 2009, and doubled its subscriber base to 2 million in just over 3 months. The biggest growth regions that contributed to this second million included Kolkata & West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Chennai & Tamil Nadu. The monthly net-additions of MTS have grown to around 250, 000 or more in the past 4 months from an earlier range of around 150, 000.

MTS is the only new entrant that has the spectrum to operate in all 22 circles of India. Having coverage in 6 telecom circles including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan, Kolkata, West Bengal, and Bihar/Jharkhand, MTS is now aiming to expand to 5 major cities in India by end of this year, and to have a pan-India presence by Q3 of 2010.

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 73.71% equity stake, along with the Shyam Group, holding a 23.79% 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

Puneet Khunger/ Akanksha Jain
Gutenberg Communications
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Press contacts:
Reet Gwari
Corporate Communications
Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd
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