Three million got SMARTS

Russian regional mobile operator SMARTS reported yesterday that its total subscriber base reached three million, up from 2.57 million at the end of September 2005. SMARTS provides GSM900/1800 services in 16 Russian regions in the Volga, Southern and Central federal districts, covering a population of 33.9 million, or 24% of the country’s total population. In March 2005 SMARTS announced plans to hold an IPO worth 20% of the company’s equity (USD200 million). It plans to use the proceeds to fund the acquisition of new companies and to expand its existing networks. Interested parties are rumoured to include rivals Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), Vimpelcom, MegaFon and Tele2.