Over the past ten years, the Mobile TeleSystems company, better known as MTS, has been a leader in the domestic telecommunications market. The company's activities are not limited to the territory of the Russian Federation only. For many years her services are in demand in other CIS countries. According to the latest statistics, the number of subscribers totaled more than 100 million people.
MTS company appeared after the appearance of the GSM standard on the Russian market of cellular communications. MTS was established on the basis of the Mobile Moscow consortium on October 28, 1993. Among the founders of this closed joint-stock company were two German companies, which owned 47% of the shares. The remaining 53% was held by the Russian side.
For the first time, MTS demonstrated the operation of its network in 1994 at the Svyaz exhibition. In the summer of the same year, MTS begins commercial activity with the provision of communication services in the GSM standard in Moscow and the region. Initially, the work of MTS was based on eight stations, six of which were located along the Moscow Ring Road, one in the city center and one on the road to Sheremetyevo. In early 1996, the number of subscribers to the company increased to 5 thousand. Active growth of MTS fell in 1997. And it cost her a lot of effort: in some cases, the company managed to obtain licenses on its own, and in others - it was necessary to buy companies that already own licenses for the provision of cellular services. In 1999, the company was waiting for innovations: dual-band networks were put into commercial operation, the fee for “incoming” calls within the network was canceled, and per-second billing was applied.
MTS began the new millennium with 1 million subscribers and the provision of services in 21 regions of Russia. In early 2004, the company owned licenses to cover the entire country, except for the Chechen Republic and the Penza region.
The international expansion of MTS started in the early 2000s. In 2002, the network was launched in Belarus, in 2003 - in Ukraine, in 2004 - in Uzbekistan, in 2005 - Turkmenistan.
MTS could not do without rebranding, the procedure of which was launched in 2006 to unify the graphic design of all divisions of the company. Thanks to rebranding, the company's recognition increased from 84% to 91%.
MTS offers its customers a large number of tariff plans, depending on the country and region of the subscriber's stay. Unlike MTS, are less popular.