Turkmenistan's Telecoms Ministry will suspend licenses of a local subsidiary of Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), one of Russia's three top mobile operators, for a month from December 21, MTS said on Thursday.
The ministry said the license was suspended as a trilateral agreement between Barash Communications Technologies, Inc. (BCTI), MTS' Turkmen subsidiary, MTS and the Telecoms Ministry, signed in 2005, expires on December 21, "unless extended pursuant to its terms and conditions", MTS said in a statement.
"In any event, it is the company's opinion that the expiry of the agreement does not preclude MTS from continuing its operations in Turkmenistan nor can any alleged termination of the agreement serve as the basis for suspension of BCTI's licenses, and that the notice must have been given as a result of misinterpretation of local laws and regulations by the Turkmenistan Communications Ministry. The company has already approached the Communications Ministry and will be making every effort to resolve the situation," MTS said.
BCTI allocates part of its profit to Turkmenistan, by agreement with Turkmenistan's Telecoms Ministry.
MOSCOW, December 16 (RIA Novosti)
