After an absence from the Turkmen market of more than 18 months, Russian telco MobileTelesystems’ (MTS’) local unit is resuming operations. The company said it has signed an agreement with state-owned TurkmenTelekom granting it a five-year…
After an absence from the Turkmen market of more than 18 months, Russian telco MobileTelesystems’ (MTS’) local unit is resuming operations. The company said it has signed an agreement with state-owned TurkmenTelekom granting it a five-year licence.
Under the terms of the agreement, the result of a presidential decree, the unit’s licence in the central Asian state may be extended for a further five years if certain conditions are met.
More specifically, MTS-Turkmenistan has been granted three-year licences to provide GSM and 3G services, signed several agreements with state-owned telcos to do with interconnectedness and access to network infrastructure, and been allocated “other technical resources” that will enable it to resume operations nationwide.
The Turkmen Ministry of Communications suspended MTS-Turkmenistan’s licence in December 2010. Then operating in accordance with an agreement it had signed with the ministry in 2005, MTS said it had reason to believe its licence would not be extended, despite having put in a formal request on time.
Today, MTS said the new agreement requires the Turkmen unit to pay TurkmenTelecom 30% of its locally-derived profits each month.
The unit’s infrastructure remains in place and it is working with vendors to restore network capacity and services to more than 2.4 million subscribers, the company added.
MTS president and CEO Andrei Dubovskov described the new agreement as “a development of mutual benefit reached through a long negotiation process involving government of Turkmenistan and management of both MTS and Sistema, our majority shareholder”.
Despite its lengthy absence from the market, Dubovskov said the company is confident its network quality, brand strength and local knowledge will enable it “to establish a strong competitive position in this very attractive market”.
MTS’ licensing problems aren’t over, however: on 17 July, its Uzbek unit had its licence suspended for 10 business days following inspections by authorities which included audits of its financial and operational activities.
