MOSCOW-The Radio Paging Group of Metromedia International Telecommunications Inc. agreed to become a co-owner of Russian paging company ZAO Mobile TeleCom by acquiring shares held by the company’s western partner.
Mobile TeleCom holds the largest share of the Russian paging marketplace, according to Pyramid Research Inc., with more than 60,000 paging subscribers in 75 cities.
The paging company also has launched the FLEX high-speed transmission protocol using Motorola Inc.’s paging equipment.
“Our clients benefit from the introduction of new paging services including roaming capabilities in Eastern Europe, the Baltic States and the [Commonwealth of Independent States],” said Lev Daychik, general director of Mobile TeleCom.
Commenting on the agreement, Richard Sherwin, co-president of Metromedia, said, “This consolidation is a very wise business move, bringing together two paging operators with similar corporate personalities. Each company serves a subscriber base with very high alphanumeric content, exceeding 90 percent.
Moreover, each utilizes web pages on the World Wide Web to offer access to their subscribers over the Internet-a key feature for the CIS market.”
