Today Mobile TeleSystems JSC (MTS) operates in St. Petersburg, the Leningrad, Novgorod, Kaliningrad, Murmansk and Pskov regions as well as in the Republics of Karelia and Komi. The Arkhangelsk region becomes the 9th region of Russia’s North-West covered by MTS.

To start MTS’ commercial operation the GSM 900/1800 standard network with Ericsson-made equipment has been constructed in the city of Arkhangelsk. The company has installed a switchboard with an initial capacity of 30,000 numbers and 14 base stations. New base stations will be added by the end of this summer. They will improve communication quality in the districts of Solombala and Severnaya Mimaksa.

In 2003 the MTS network should cover most populated areas in the Arkhangelsk region: the cities of Severodvinsk, Novodvinsk, Kotlas, Plesetsk, Mirny as well as settlements on the banks of Northern Dvina. At the first stage MTS is offering federal telephone numbers (code 911). In the nearest future they will be supplemented with local ones.