“Active” tariff, which comes with the federal number, is meant for those who constantly need mobile connection, be it in Moscow or elsewhere. There is no subscription fee. The obligatory minimum fee for being on air of $36¹ a month includes 300 minutes of any local connections. The cost of all local calls over and above 301st minute is 9¹ cents per minute round the clock, which is exceptionally low for calls made to fixed lines during the day.

Commenting on this initiative, MTS’ marketing director Igor Timofeyev said: “Today we are making a qualitatively new step towards creating the most favourable conditions for our most active subscribers in terms of air time usage. The activity of any operator is characterised by two factors — the number of minutes a person spends on air per month and the price he is paying for it. During the second quarter, for instance, an MTS subscriber spent an average of 166 minutes on air monthly, which cost him $39. With the introduction of “Active” tariff our subscribers will be able to double their air time for the same price”.

Despite the fact that the new tariff does not have a subscription fee, subscribers are getting all the prime services free of charge: international access, national and international roaming, call divert, call waiting, and the ability of send and receive SMS.

“Active” tariff is also of great interest to subscribers, who talk a lot to their colleagues and partners in other cities, as well as to those who need to use their mobile phones in Russia’s regions and abroad. The uniqueness of the “Active” tariff plan is provided for by the overall federal nature of the MTS network. The per minute cost of a call to an MTS subscriber in most Russian cities within MTS network equals the cost of a local call of 9 cents per minute (over and above 301st minute). Taking into account the fact that in the near future the whole of the European part of Russia will be covered by MTS network, MTS subscribers will be able to pay less for these effectively inter-city calls than for those made through fixed lines.

At the same time MTS subscribers will now be able to save money on the calls made to fixed lines of other cities. The cost of the inter-city component of outgoing calls made during the day to the Moscow region within “Active” tariff has been reduced by 25 per cent and equals 15¹ cents round the clock. This means that even during the day MTS subscribers will be able to call fixed lines in the Moscow region for only 24¹ cents a minute. The cost of inter-city and international components of outgoing calls made during the day to cities within Russia and the CIS, as well as abroad, is reduced between 5 and 25 per cent. Hence, the cost of incoming calls received through national and international roaming has also been reduced.

Discounted within-the-network roaming tariffs remain a constant advantage of the MTS network. These tariffs apply to 21 Russian regions. Hence, an MTS subscriber, who, for instance, is visiting Izhevsk will pay 39¹ cents per minute during the day and 29¹ cents per minute at night for local calls.

At the same time MTS subscribers can upgrade their cash balance effectively in any MTS region through the recently introduced federal “Express-payment” card. This means that MTS subscribers can purchase and activate the card through dialling the 0850 free number in dozens of Russia’s cities.

One of MTS’ main goals is to provide maximum comfort to its subscribers through turning mobile phones into a practical and useful tool. In order to constantly expand subscriber services, MTS is also introducing the “Conference Call/Call Transfer” facility as of 15th September.

The new service allows up to six participants to talk simultaneously, once the call has been initiated by an MTS subscriber. An MTS subscriber, using “Conference Call/Call Transfer” facility, can initiate a new conference, add and disconnect participants, put himself on hold while other participants can continue their conversation amongst them, as well as make outgoing calls and receive incoming calls. Conference call participants can be on either mobile or fixed lines.

The cost of the new service is $1¹ per month.