Russia’s MTS gets a new CEO – Mr. Mikhail Shamolin

Russia’s Mobile TeleSystems announced the appointment of Mr. Mikhail Shamolin as President and CEO, who has served as the head of MTS Russia. Mr. Leonid Melamed, Shamolin’s predecessor will be assuming the duties of President and CEO at Sistema, the largest private sector consumer services company in Russia and the majority shareholder of MTS.

Under Mr. Melamed’s two years of leadership, MTS has grown from a regional operator into a global company, growing its subscriber base by 24 million and increasing its footprint through acquisitions in Russia and Armenia. Mr. Melamed supervised the launch and roll-out of the MTS brand in various markets, and presided over the substantial increase in the company’s dividend payment from $1.03 per ADR in 2005 to a recommended payout of $3.12 in 2008.

Mr. Shamolin joined MTS in 2005 as Vice President, Sales and Customer Service. Later he assumed leadership of MTS Russia following the Company’s 2006 reorganization. In this capacity, Mr. Shamolin managed the largest MTS business unit, one which contributes roughly 75% of value to MTS. During his tenure, revenues grew 67% and operating efficiency improved considerably as Mr. Shamolin presided over sustained growth in voice usage, adoption of value-added services, both of which led to an over 50% rise in average revenue per user (ARPU).

Prior to joining MTS, Mr. Shamolin worked at McKinsey & Co. from 1998 to 2004. From 2004 to 2005 he worked at Interpipe Corp. (Ukraine) as Managing Director of the Ferroalloys Division.