MOSCOW -- Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) will spend USD 1.2 billion to expand its cellular networks this year, with new licenses in hand to cover more Russian territory, Vassily Sidorov, CEO of MTS, said on Tuesday. Sidorov said MTS received licenses to operate in 11 new regions, adding ten percent of Russia’s 145 million people to its territory.
“We have always been geared at creating a national network”, Sidorov explained. MTS will now concentrate more on building networks in Russia from scratch, he said. MTS also said on Tuesday the expiry date on its Moscow license was extended to 2008 from 2004 and it was granted more frequencies in some regions to make construction more efficient.
Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS)