Mobile Telesystems is flying high in Russia

Telecom companies always love it when people like you and me love to talk because they can hear the sounds of their profits going up and see their stock value climbing. Mobile Telesystems (MBT) is the number one digital mobile phone service in Russia where people like to talk too it seems. It currently has over 72 million subscribers across the 11 Different time zones that make up that giant sized nation. To give you an idea of how large that is the United States only has 3 time zones. The company exclusively uses the Global System for Mobile Communications Standard or GSM. The company has been in an expansion mode. It has aquired over 12 other mobile operators since 1998. Its communications network reaches across Russia, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Sistema is a major industrial holding company that along with Deutsche Telecom formed MBT in 1993. It now holds about 53% of the company.
In the summer of 2002 one share of MBT was going for about $10. By the end of 04 it was at $20. By the end of 05 it was $30. In the summer of 06 it slipped a little and fell to about $25 and immediately began climbing again and so by the end of that year in December of 06 it was at $50. On December 7th of 07 it closed at over $96 a share. Its value has nearly doubled this year.