BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

19/12/2005

Belarus' 3rd GSM operator to launch its network on Wednesday

MOSCOW, Dec 19 (Prime-Tass) -- A third Belarusian GSM mobile operator plans to launch its network into commercial operation Wednesday, the company's representative said Monday.

State-controlled Belarus Telecommunications Network, or BeST, started a trial operation of the network in October.

BeST was registered on November 5, 2004 and received a license to provide communication services in Belarus on March 24, 2005.

BeST was set up by Belarus' state-controlled fixed-line monopoly Beltelecom, which controls 25% in the company, and state-owned company Agat, which controls 75%.

Earlier in October BeST said that it plans to attract 500,000-600,000 subscribers by the end of 2006.

The aggregated subscriber base of Belarus' mobile operators has increased 48.4% since the beginning of the year to 3.605 million users as of October 1, Belarus' Communications Minister Vladimir Goncharenko said in October.

Presently there are three mobile operators in Belarus besides BeST. These Belarus' largest GSM operator, Belarusian-Russian joint venture Mobile TeleSystems, or MTS Bealrus, and Belarus' first GSM operator Mobile Digital Communications, or MDC, which provides its services under the Velcom brand. The country's first ever mobile operator Belarusian-British joint venture BelCel operates NMT450i and IMT-MC-450 networks.

Source:

http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15307.php