MTS Announces Dividend Recommendation for FY2008 and Nominees to the Board

MOSCOW, May 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (“MTS” – NYSE: MBT), the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS, announces the decisions reached at the Board of Directors meeting held on May 21, 2009, on the dividend amount recommendation and the nominees for election to the Company’s Board.

MTS’ Board of Directors (BoD) recommended the annual general meeting of shareholders (AGM) approve annual dividends of RUB 20.15[1] per ordinary MTS share (approximately $2.96 per ADR[2]) for the 2008 fiscal year, amounting to a total of RUB 39.40 billion ($1,158.3 million) or approximately 60% of US GAAP net income. As announced earlier, the record date for the Company’s share- and ADR-holders entitled to participate in the AGM and to receive dividends was May 8, 2009. The AGM will be held on June 25, 2009.

At the meeting, the Company’s BoD also nominated a total of nine members for election to the Board. The candidate list includes:

– Mr. Anton Abugov, First Vice-President, Head of Strategy and
Development functional division, Sistema;

– Mr. Alexey Buyanov, Senior Vice President, Head of Financial
functional division, Sistema;

– Mr. Daniel Crawford, independent director;

– Mr. Sergei Drozdov, Senior Vice President, Head of the
Property functional division, Sistema;

– Mr. Mohanbir Gyani, independent director;

– Mr. Paul Ostling, independent director;

– Mr. Mikhail Shamolin, President and CEO of MTS;

– Mr. Ron Sommer, First Vice-President, Head of its
Telecommunications business unit, Sistema;

– Ms. Tatiana Yevtoushenkova, Advisor to the President of
Sberbank.

The new directors will be elected after the decision of the Company’s AGM on June 25, 2009.

Biography:

Ron Sommer was born in 1949. In 2005 he was elected to the Board of Directors at Sistema as an independent director. Since 2003 he worked as Chairman of the International Advisory Board at Sistema. Between May 1995 and July 2002, he was CEO of Deutsche Telekom AG. From 1980 to 1995, Ron Sommer held a number of positions with Sony Corporation, including as CEO of Sony Deutschland, COO of Sony Corporation of America and COO of Sony Europe. Ron Sommer received his PhD degree in mathematics from the University of Vienna.

Ron Sommer is a member of the Board of Directors of Motorola, Tata Consultancy Services, Weather Investments, Munich Reinsurance and a member of the International Advisory Board of Blackstone Group.

Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (“MTS”) is the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS. Together with its subsidiaries, the Company services over 93.03 million subscribers. The regions of Russia, as well as Armenia, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, in which MTS and its associates and subsidiaries are licensed to provide GSM services, have 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 MTS can be found on MTS’ website at http://www.mtsgsm.com.

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 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, 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, risks associated with operating in Russia and the CIS, volatility of stock price, financial risk management and future growth subject to risks.

[1] The dividend yield per share is 8.0%. No dividend will be paid on the 37,762,257 shares that were acquired by MTS as part of the mandatory buyback in September 2008.

[2] According to the Russian Central Bank exchange rate of 34.0134 RUB/USD as of March 31, 2009. The dividend amount is set in Russian rubles by the Board of Directors; U.S. dollar amounts provided for reference using the foreign exchange rates as of March 31, 2009.

SOURCE Mobile TeleSystems (MTS)