New President of MTS to be appointed on October 25, 2003

Shareholders of the Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) public company will elect a new President at a special shareholders' meeting scheduled for October 25, 2003. According to the company's press service, the exact date of the special meeting has been set at a Board meeting today. In addition, the Board appointed Vice President of the Sistema Telecom closed corporation Vasily Sidorov the Acting President of MTS. The Board also recommended him for the President of Mobile TeleSystems. It is worth mentioning that on July 23, the Board of Directors of the Moscow City Telephone Network (MGTS) appointed President of MTS Mikhail Smirnov the General Director of MGTS. Smirnov made a decision to become the head of a major Russian fixed-line operator, and his candidacy is to be approved at a special shareholders' meeting of MGTS on August 15. Former General Director of MGTS Vladimir Lagutin resigned on June 16 and assumed the office of the head of Sistema Telecom.

MTS is a Russian cellular service provider with over 11 million subscribers. Among the main shareholders of the company are the AFK Sistema holding (with 51 percent) and a German cellular operator T-Mobile (with 25 percent). MTS is authorized to provide GSM-900/1800 cellular services in 58 regions of Russia, as well as in Belarus and Ukraine.

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