EQS-News: Mobile Telesystems

 MTS launched the Open IoT Lab in Moscow to demonstrate and trial a wide range of IoT solutions, bringing together IoT suppliers and customers to further stimulate growth in the market. It is the first of its kind in Russia based on NB-IoT (Narrowband-Internet of Things) technology and launched under the GSMA Mobile IoT initiative. 

The MTS Open IoT Lab is an innovation space, where our corporate customers, partners and suppliers can explore current and future IoT-enabled solutions in a wide range of fields; from water consumption metering to city lightning management. The Lab serves as a showcase for the effectiveness of various pilot and commercial fragments of IoT-networks utilizing numerous sensors and devices that transmit data to clouds for further processing. The devices are managed and controlled through tablets and laptops, with visual reporting shown on large screens.

The IoT Lab presents the results of our cooperation with a number of vendors. The central part of the showcase is a test NB-IoT network in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands with four pilot products based on Nokia technologies: smart home solutions, smart city infrastructure monitoring and management, energy consumption control in housing services, and physical facility security systems. There is also a test NB-IoT network based on Ericsson solution for housing and communal services.

The adoption of the NB-IoT standard by regulators will further accelerate the commercial launch and rollout of IoT solutions across Russia. Due to the greater available network capacity, energy efficiency and high sensitivity offered by radio modules, the new standard will allow to connect multiple IoT devices to one base station, even in difficult conditions of signal passage and without the sensor battery replacement for several years. MTS is well prepared for the fast approaching connected future and has a wide portfolio of innovative IoT products and services for B2B customers, including solutions for smart home and smart city, monitoring and security, as well as production processes management and others.

Calling to "Explore IoT", our Lab serves not only as a showroom for MTS IoT products in action, but also as a real laboratory to rise tomorrow's IoT products. It is designed to provide our partners and device manufacturers wishing to accelerate the development of connected devices with access to our facilities at no cost. They can bring their early stage projects or solutions to our Lab for testing and receiving first-hand operational experience. MTS IoT experts are also available in the Lab for support.

"Today's announcement serves as yet another illustration of MTS digital-focused strategy. With the launch of the Open IoT Lab, MTS reinforces its commitment to develop the IoT ecosystem in Russia. By providing reliable connectivity and working together with our partners and device manufacturers, we can accelerate the future of the Internet of Things. As next steps in the IoT development, we will strengthen our presence in the IoT segment through open source platforms, cloud apps and the introduction of IoT Platform fit for any scale. We believe that the IoT evolution will benefit individuals, businesses and entire economics by escalating connectedness, removing physical barriers, and harnessing Big Data," said Kirill Dmitriev, Vice President, Sales and Customer Services, MTS.

"Today, we present a comprehensive infrastructure of the Internet of things using commercially available standardized solutions and open interfaces. The implementation of this project will allow MTS to become the centre of the Russian ecosystem of IoT, combining many developers and applications in various sectors of the economy. The opening of the MTS IoT laboratory is the next step in implementing agreements between our companies in the development of IoT and 5G, "said Demetrio Russo, Vice President, Eastern Europe, Nokia.

"There is a real sense of momentum behind the roll-out of Mobile IoT networks across both NB-IoT and LTE-M with 29 global launches around the world to date. This is underpinned by a growing community of over 25 open labs supporting operators, equipment manufacturers and vendors to trial new technologies," said Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer, GSMA. "We welcome today's announcement as it provides innovative Russian companies with the opportunity to trial new products and services using LPWA networks and accelerate their time to market."

МТS leadership and pioneering on the Russian IoT Market

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For further information, please contact in Moscow:
 
Joshua B. Tulgan
Director, Department of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations
Mobile TeleSystems PJSC
Tel: +7 495 223 2025
E-mail: ir@mts.ru
 
Learn more about MTS. Visit the official blog of the Investor Relations Department at www.mtsgsm.com/blog/

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Mobile TeleSystems PJSC ("MTS" - NYSE:MBT; MOEX:MTSS), the leading telecommunications group in Russia and the CIS, provides a range of mobile and fixed-line communications services. We serve over 100 million mobile subscribers in Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Turkmenistan, and Belarus, and about 9 million customers of fixed-line services, including fixed voice, broadband internet, and pay-TV. To keep pace with evolving customer demand, MTS is redefining what telecommunications services are by offering innovative products beyond its core network-related businesses in various tech segments, including Big Data, financial and banking services, internet of things, OTT, cloud computing, systems integration and e-commerce. We leverage our market-leading retail network as a platform for customer services and sales of devices and accessories. For more information, please visit: www.mtsgsm.com.

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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 undertake or 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, the severity and duration of current economic and financial conditions, including volatility in interest and exchange rates, commodity and equity prices and the value of financial assets; the impact of Russian, U.S. and other foreign government programs to restore liquidity and stimulate national and global economies, our ability to maintain our current credit rating and the impact on our funding costs and competitive position if we do not do so, strategic actions, including acquisitions and dispositions and our success in integrating acquired businesses, 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, governmental regulation of the telecommunications industries and other risks associated with operating in Russia and the CIS, volatility of stock price, financial risk management and future growth subject to risks.