OREANDA-NEWS. June 18, 2008.  Sistema (LSE: SSA), the largest public diversified corporation in Russia and the CIS, which manages fast growing companies operating in the consumer services sector, today announced that Shyam Telelink Ltd. (Shyam Telelink) has received radio frequencies under CDMA 800 MHz in four additional Indian circles. As a result, Shyam Telelink now has spectrum in 19 telecommunications circles.

The Department of Telecommunications of India has allocated the CDMA 800 MHz radio frequencies to Shyam Telelink, Sistema's subsidiary, in four Indian circles, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kolkata and Orissa, which comprise 14.1% of Indian population (159.6 million people). Altogether Shyam Telelink now has spectrum in 19 telecommunications circles, covering 27 Indian states with a population of 1,066.5 million people (which comprise around 94.5% of Indian population).

The mobile network is expected to be launched in one of the largest Indian circles, Rajastan, in September 2008. Further, mobile networks will be launched consecutively in other circles of India, in order to ensure the completion of the first stage of the building of national network in April 2009.