For the past several years October and November cellular sales in Russia were slow with following significant rebound in December. October 2004 wasn't an exception. Net sales decreased 20% to 2.7 mln compared to September results. The present trend, whereas the net sales are expected to remain flat in November and almost double in December, will bring the total number of Russian cellular users to 70 mln by the end of 2004.

We estimate the cellular services penetration in Russia at 42.5% as of October 31, 2004 - 20.6% increase y-o-y and 17.6% since the beginning of 2004.

The number of cellular customers in Moscow passed 15 million milestone! MTS was the leader in the net sales race in the capital attracting more than 50% of net additions. MegaFon was runner-up, while Vimpelcom showed modest results, mainly due to the company's strict churn policy (4 months) aimed to "clean up" inactive subscribers. Cellular penetration in Moscow will break 90% already in November.

MegaFon signed the largest number of subscribers in St.Petersburg among competition, while for the 3rd month in a row Vimpelcom was the leader in overall net additions in Russia.

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