New Cellular Provider Reports Rise In Number Of Clients

The number of clients of the MegaFon cellular network that emerged at the end of 2001 amounted to more than 50,000 as of January 10, 2002. The press service of Telekominvest, a member of the MegaFon project, reported to RBC that 23,500 new clients joined the network in December 2001. The number of clients in the Samara region of Russia is expected to reach 100,000 by the middle of 2002 and 150,000-200,000 by the end of this year. As of now, MegaFon has 40 base stations in the Samara region and 28 stations in the Saratov region of Russia. The dealer network consists of more than 80 sales departments in the above two regions. In February 2002 MegaFon is going to launch a cellular network in Bashkortostan and later this year it will start operating in the Ulyanovsk, Volgograd and Astrakhan regions of Russia. It is worth mentioning that the Russian project MegaFon includes the following companies: Sonera, Telia, Telekominvest and TsT-Mobile.