MTS Ranked Among the World's 100 Most Powerful Brands With a Brand Value of $9.7 Billion

MOSCOW, April 28, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mobile TeleSystems OJSC ("MTS" -NYSE: MBT), the leading telecommunications provider in Russia and the CIS, announces that it has been named as one of the BRANDZ(TM) Top 100 Most Powerful Brands, a ranking published by the Financial Times and Millward Brown, a leading global market research and consulting firm. MTS once again joins the ranks of the most powerful brands in the world with a value of $9.7 billion at the 72nd position. As in 2008 and 2009, MTS is the most valuable Russian brand in the ranking.

The value of the MTS brand continued to increase for the third year in a row and has grown from $8.1 billion in 2008 to $9.2 billion in 2009 to over $9.7 billion in 2010.

MTS launched its current brand in May 2006, building on its market leadership and reputation as the highest quality operator in the region. With over 102 million subscribers out of a total population of over 230 million in the markets in which it operates, MTS has the largest mobile customer base in the CIS. Subscribers trust the MTS brand as it represents high quality and offers the most innovative products.

"Since the launch of the new MTS brand in 2006, we have focused on developing it to become the strongest brand in our markets to reflect our position as the leading telecommunications group in Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia," commented Mikhail Gerchuk, Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of MTS. "We have since enhanced the MTS brand by bringing it to additional countries of operation and now we are focused on extending it to complementary products and services, like fixed broadband, pay TV as well as content and entertainment services. As more people are becoming MTS customers through a variety of services we offer across multiple markets, we expect our brand to continue growing in value and be recognized as among the most successful globally."

About Millward Brown's Ranking

The BRANDZ Ranking is the only brand ranking based on primary research - it therefore reflects the perceptions of people who really count - brand users and consumers. Derived from BRANDZ database, the world's largest repository of brand equity data, the BRANDZ study has interviewed more than one million consumers globally and covers 50,000 brands worldwide. The BRANDZ Ranking is the first study to cover both business and consumer brands and to include predictive metrics of future brand performance. Market performance metrics and financial data were obtained from Datamonitor and Bloomberg respectively.

Learn more about MTS. Visit the official blog of the Investor Relations Department at http://www.mtsgsm.com/blog/

Mobile TeleSystems OJSC ("MTS") is the leading telecommunications group in Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, offering mobile and fixed voice, broadband, pay TV as well as content and entertainment services in one of the world's fastest growing regions. Including its subsidiaries, the Group services over 102.3 million mobile subscribers in Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia and Belarus, a region that boasts a total population of more than 230 million. Since June 2000, MTS' Level 3 ADRs have been listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol MBT). Additional information about the MTS Group can be found at 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, including Comstar-UTS, 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, Investor Relations
    Mob: +7-985-220-4208

    Department of Investor Relations
    Mobile TeleSystems OJSC
    Tel: +7-495-223-2025
    E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE MTS Mobile TeleSystems