Moscow, Russian Federation – MTS PJSC (“MTS” – NYSE: MBT; MOEX: MTSS), the leading Russian telecommunications operator and digital service provider in Russia, acquired 100% of the share capital of IT-Grad 1 Cloud LLC, one of the largest cloud providers on the Russian IaaS market. MTS bought the company, which holds all IT-Grad group’s cloud assets, through its Dutch subsidiary Vostok Mobile B.V. from a group of private investors for a total of RUB 2,491 mln, including net debt.

The IT-Grad group of companies has been developing its cloud-based solutions business since 2008, providing services to large corporate clients under its own brand, as well as to small and medium-sized enterprises under the 1cloud brand. IT-Grad utilizes its own equipment located in TIER III data centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Almaty (Kazakhstan).

Valery Shorzhin,VP, Digital Business Solutions, MTS, commented:
“MTS is rapidly strengthening its presence in the Russian cloud services space. The market is growing 30% annually and is one of the most promising IaaS segments. In addition to developing our own cloud platform and regularly launching innovative services, our continued expansion is supported by a series of strategic M&A deals. We have recently acquired Avantage, one of the largest data centers in Russia, and by acquiring IT-Grad 1 Cloud LLC, we have added one of the country’s leading cloud service providers to our portfolio. This transaction greatly improves MTS’s capability in the cloud market. Moreover, having our own data centers and data transmission channels will ensure cost optimization through consolidation of equipment at our sites. The synergies achieved will increase the efficiency of #CloudMTS and allow us to offer our clients new and unique services.”

About cloud provider #CloudMTS
MTS provides cloud services under #Cloud ÌÒS brand through ten data centers, connected by their own backbone communication channels. Stratified architecture using VMware solutions secures #CloudÌÒS’s uninterrupted operation and increases fault tolerance. In 2018, new cloud services for business customers, including postal services, storage and exchange of corporate information as well as a dedicated platform for handling personal data, were added to the existing IaaS services (Elastic Cloud, backup and processing of Big Data in the cloud). In addition, our clients now have the opportunity to use Microsoft Azure Stack products for the first time through the #CloudMTS platform.

More about IT-Grad’s cloud business
IT-Grad is the pioneer VMware service provider in Russia and the CIS. In addition to basic services (virtual data centers, hybrid clouds and backup), corporate clients can now rent NetApp virtual storage systems, create virtual data centers to accommodate PCI DSS certified systems, store and process personal data in accordance with legislative requirements alongside other SaaS, PaaS and DaaS services, including a solution for collaborative software development. Through 1cloud, small and medium-sized businesses can quickly deploy cloud infrastructure using an automated control panel.

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For further information, please contact in Moscow:
Investor Relations Department
Mobile TeleSystems PJSC
Tel: +7 495 223 2025
E-mail: ir@mts.ru