MTS, the leading Russian mobile operator based on number of subscribers (71.4 million in 2010), won a tender for GSM frequencies in the Penza region, the last remaining region it had yet to penetrate.
Until now, MegaFon was alone in operating GSM networks in all of Russia’s 83 regions.
MegaFon and MTS also benefit from nationwide 3G licenses.
In the other regional GSM tenders organized simultaneously by Roskomnadzor, the telecommunications regulator, MTS also won a license in the Ulyanovsk region; VimpelCom won licenses in the far-eastern Jewish Autonomous District and the Ust-Ordynsky District; and Rostelecom, the national telecommunications operator, won one in the Koryak District.
Regional operators won the remaining licenses.
Sources: MTS, Kommersant
