MTS Acquires ree Regional ts of SMARTS

Moscow, Russian Federation - Mobile TeleSystems OJSC ( MTS or the Company - NYSE: MBT), the leading telecommunications provider in Russia and the CIS, announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Telecom Povolzhye LLC, has acquired Penza-GSM CJSC, SMARTS-Ivanovo CJSC and SMARTS-Ufa CJSC, the regional assets of SMARTS OJSC, a mobile operator active in the Volga and Central Regions. In total, MTS has acquired the three companies for a price of RUB 3.13 bln including debt.

The acquisition primarily will enhance MTS's spectrum resources in a number of key regions. Penza-GSM CJSC owns 14.8 MHz in the 1800 Mhz range and 6.2 MHz in the 900 MHz range. SMARTS-Ivanovo CJSC owns 14.2 MHz in the 1800 MHz range and 10.0 MHz in the 900 MHz range, and SMARTS-Ufa CJSC owns 14.6 MHz in the 1800 MHz range.

Mr. Andrei Dubovskov, President and CEO of MTS, commented, The transaction allows MTS to sustain its leadership in the Bashkiria market and significantly increase its presence in Penza Region and Ivanovo Region. MTS will also benefit from obtaining additional spectrum resources in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz ranges, which provides a greater potential for refarming the 1800 MHz bandwidth for LTE networks. This will allow us to offer improved coverage and faster speeds for mobile broadband to our subscribers. We also believe that the acquisition will help us realize substantial economies of scale upon integration of the acquired businesses in the MTS Group.

MTS has received approvals of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) and all of the necessary corporate approvals.

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For further information, please contact in Moscow:

Joshua B. Tulgan

Director, Department of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations

Mobile TeleSystems OJSC

Tel: +7 495 223 2025

E-mail: ir@mts.ru

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

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Mobile TeleSystems OJSC ("MTS") is the leading telecommunications group in Russia, entral and Eastern Europe, offering mobile and fixed voice, broadband and pay TV in one of the worlds fastest growing regions. Including its subsidiaries, the Group services over 100 million mobile subscribers. The Group has been awarded GSM licenses in Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Turkmenistan 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 www.mtsgsm.com.

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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.

LINK:	http://www.mtsgsm.com/news/2014-12-30-73232...
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