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Russia-s leading operator MTS selects Ericsson for LTE networks development

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN — (Marketwired) — 06/20/13 —

* MTS and Ericsson to jointly develop ICT infrastructure in four regions
in
Russia

* LTE network will cover approximately half of Russia with Ericsson as
MTS-s
main vendor.

* Ericsson will supply hardware and services for radio access and core
networks

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and Russia-s leading mobile operator Mobile
TeleSystems
(MTS) announced a strategic cooperation to jointly develop ICT
infrastructure
for an LTE network rollout during the 17th St. Petersburg International
Economic
Forum (SPIEF 2013). Ericsson has been chosen to deploy the LTE network in
four
regions covering more than half of Russia, thus becoming MTS-s main vendor.
The
launch of LTE by MTS will increase Russia-s connectivity and foster the
development of the country-s economy.

Under the three-year agreement and starting in Q2, 2013, Ericsson will roll
out
LTE in the Siberian, Ural, Volga, and Southern Federal Districts of Russia.
In
the first stage of the project, Ericsson will supply no less than 10,000
new-
generation products from the RBS 6000 series. We will also supply core
network
hardware and services in the same regions, as well as in the Northwestern
Federal District. As part of the agreement, Ericsson and MTS will extend
their
cooperation to further develop 2G/3G networks in several regions in Russia.

Andrei Dubovskov, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTS Group,
says: “We have already established a long-term strategic cooperation with
Ericsson for network infrastructure development, and now Ericsson will
support
us to deploy next-generation services in major parts of Russia. The regions
we
have targeted for 4G service coverage are very important industrial hubs
with
key sectors driving the Russian economy: mining, engineering, processing
and
farming. There is a very high demand among consumers here – including
corporate
subscribers – for innovative services and mobile broadband. We intend to
start
building 4G networks in Russia in the near future to provide subscribers in
approximately 15 regions in Russia with high-speed data services by the end
of
2013.”

Hans Vestberg, President and CEO of Ericsson, says: “We are delighted to
partner
with MTS to build an LTE network covering half of Russia. We are committed
to
bringing a great LTE experience to MTS customers and having built more than
150
LTE networks globally, we see the huge effect on society that LTE has had;
4G
drives innovation and service development, and we are thrilled to make it
available for the Russian market together with MTS.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

The MTS Group

Mobile TeleSystems (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. Altogether, the group services over 100 million mobile
subscribers. MTS has been awarded GSM licenses in Russia, Ukraine,
Turkmenistan,
Armenia and Belarus. More information about the MTS Group can be found at

Download high-resolution photos and broadcast-quality video at

Ericsson is a world-leading provider of communications technology and
services.
We are enabling the Networked Society with efficient real-time solutions
that
allow us all to study, work and live our lives more freely, in sustainable
societies around the world.

Our offering comprises services, software and infrastructure within
Information
and Communications Technology for telecom operators and other industries.
Today
40 percent of the world-s mobile traffic goes through Ericsson networks and
we
support customers- networks servicing more than 2.5 billion subscriptions.

We are more than 110,000 people working with customers in more than 180
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In
2012 the company-s net sales were SEK 227.8 billion (USD 33.8 billion).
Ericsson
is listed on NASDAQ OMX, Stockholm and NASDAQ, New York stock exchanges.

Russia-s leading operator MTS selects Ericsson for LTE:

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