MOSCOW, February 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Mobile TeleSystems PJSC ("MTS" or
"the Company" - NYSE: MBT; MOEX: MTSS), the leading
telecommunications provider in Russia and the CIS, announces today
that MTS, BT, Deutsche Telekom, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited,
Millicom, Orange, Rogers, TeliaSonera and TIM have joined
forces to build a new Partnering Operator Alliance that will allow
partner businesses to more efficiently and quickly bring innovative
products and services to customers around the world.
These companies can reach a potential
customer base of around one billion customers in more
than 80 countries around the world.
"We believe in the positive synergy that this alliance brings to
the global market. The joint forces of industry leaders create
additional value for our customers and give us a chance to provide
the latest innovations, best services, products and client
experience. We are proud to represent Russia and CIS countries in the alliance and
we are sure that it is wise to face global market challenges in an
alliance of reliable partners from all over the world," explains
Vasyl Latsanych, Chief Marketing Officer of MTS Group.
The Alliance focuses on exchanging best practices on how to
bring partner propositions to the market, on joint efforts in
partner scouting and will also exchange knowledge about upcoming
trends and services amongst the group. As of today, the Alliance
has established relationships with 30 innovative partner businesses
including AirBnB, Celltick, Disconnect, Idoomoo, Magisto, Mojio and
Spotify.
The alliance is an open network of like-minded operators
worldwide with complementary geographical footprints. It is
covering all relevant product categories within an operator's
business, mobile as well as fixed, B2C as well as B2B. The Alliance
will be expanding to additional operators soon.
Further operator comments:
- Christian von Reventlow, Chief
Product & Innovation Officer at Deutsche Telekom: "Partnering
becomes more and more important. We as operators can provide
partners with the best networks and easy distribution to customers.
And the partners enable us to provide our customers with the best
and most innovative products and services. This is a perfect
win-win-situation for all. Therefore I'm very happy that we were
able to build this powerful alliance."
- Rainer Deutschmann, Chief
Product & Innovation Officer of JIO: "JIO is set to enable each
Indian to live a digital life. To this end, we have built the
globally largest greenfield 4G and fiber network, as well as a
suite of digital services enabling entertainment, cloud, payment,
and much more. We invite the best partners to work with us to
co-create a Digital India."
- David Gillarranz, VP Digital at Millicom: "Millicom operates at
the heart of the digital revolution, helping to transform the
economic, business and social landscapes in emerging markets. We
can do this best when we work together with others to provide a
compelling digital ecosystem for customers and this is why we are
excited to be part of this new partnering network."
- Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière, Senior Executive Innovation,
Marketing and Technologies at Orange: "Orange is already committed
to enabling digital startups to accelerate their growth through its
in-house initiatives and its partnerships with operators or large
companies. We strongly believe that this alliance will contribute
and enhance our collective ability to scale up innovators."
- Jesper Hedblom, Head of
Commercial, TeliaSonera: "We're always looking to expand the
digital ecosystem and provide our customers with exciting new
services. By teaming up with our great peers we'll get the
possibility to work with partners and access innovations that we
otherwise might not have come across. I really look forward to work
together and bring even more great services to our customers."
- Lucy Lombardi, Head of
Innovation & Industry Relations of TIM: "This alliance is a
unique arena where the most important operators can build upon
their respective innovation experiences and solutions providing
also an opportunity for operators to introduce their start-up
ecosystems to an international footprint."
Learn more about MTS. Visit the official blog of the Investor
Relations Department at http://www.mtsgsm.com/blog/
Mobile TeleSystems PJSC ("MTS" - NYSE:MBT; MOEX:MTSS) is the
leading telecommunications group in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe. We provide wireless
Internet access and fixed voice, broadband and pay-TV to over 100
million customers who value high quality of service at a
competitive price. Our wireless and fixed-line networks deliver
best-in-class speeds and coverage throughout Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus. To keep pace with evolving customer
demand, we continue to grow through innovative products,
investments in our market-leading retail platform, mobile payment
services, e-commerce and IT solutions. For more information, please
visit: http://www.mtsgsm.com
Some of the information in this press release may contain
projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future
events or the future financial performance of MTS, as defined in
the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify forward looking
statements by terms such as "expect," "believe," "anticipate,"
"estimate," "intend," "will," "could," "may" or "might," and the
negative of such terms or other similar expressions. We wish
to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that
actual events or results may differ materially. We do not undertake
or intend to update these statements to reflect events and
circumstances occurring after the date hereof or to reflect the
occurrence of unanticipated events. We refer you to the documents
MTS files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission, specifically the Company's most recent Form 20-F. These
documents contain and identify important factors, including those
contained in the section captioned "Risk Factors" that could cause
the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our
projections or forward-looking statements, including, among others,
the severity and duration of current economic and financial
conditions, including volatility in interest and exchange rates,
commodity and equity prices and the value of financial assets; the
impact of Russian, U.S. and other foreign government programs to
restore liquidity and stimulate national and global economies, our
ability to maintain our current credit rating and the impact on our
funding costs and competitive position if we do not do so,
strategic actions, including acquisitions and dispositions and our
success in integrating acquired businesses, potential fluctuations
in quarterly results, our competitive environment, dependence on
new service development and tariff structures, rapid technological
and market change, acquisition strategy, risks associated with
telecommunications infrastructure, governmental regulation of the
telecommunications industries and other risks associated with
operating in Russia and the CIS,
volatility of stock price, financial risk management and future
growth subject to risks.
For further information, please contact in Moscow:
Joshua B. Tulgan
Director, Department of Corporate Finance and Investor
Relations
Mobile TeleSystems PJSC
Tel: +7-495-223-2025
E-mail: ir@mts.ru
SOURCE Mobile TeleSystems (MTS)