December 31, 2005
Russia's Putin has no mobile phone
President Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with Russian Telecommunications Minister Leonid Reiman that one of the things that makes him different from the vast majority of Russia’s population is that the does not have a mobile phone, informs ITAR-TASS.
At this moment, the number of ‘mobilniks’ (mobile phones, some times also called ‘trubkas,’ which means ‘receivers’) in Russia hugely exceeds the number of fixed-line phones, Reiman indicated.
While fixed-line services embrace 42 million Russians, the mobile operators have 120 million customers. “Mobile service is now available to 84% of the population, which means we’re keeping good pace with the Europeans,” Reiman said.
In Moscow alone, there are 132 ‘mobilniks’ per each 100 people, as some people buy services from more than one mobile operator at a time.
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