AO ASVT and L M Ericsson Telefon AB will soon sign an agreement under which Ericsson will supply Acshonet switching centre and cellular telephones to replace the existing but outdated Altai brand that works on 450MHz frequency that is currently maintained by the Russian company. The Altai mobile phone system was designed about 15 years ago and is now running at full capacity, 5,500 subscribers. The Swedish system was due to be delivered late last year and to be up and running this month as soon as the replacement works are over. According to Mikhail Smirnov of ASVT, the company hopes to increase the number of users to about 7,000 this year and to 12,000 or 13,000 further in the future.
