The demand for mobile phone services has exceeded the company's expectations, "so we have to invest more in the regions where we already operate as we speed up entry into new regions," Nikolai Tseholmsky, MTS' chief financial officer said during a conference call Tuesday.

MTS' President Vassily Sidorov added that MTS plans to launch services in 11 new regions in Russia, not all of which were originally envisaged.

Sidorov said that capital expenditure was revised due to higher demand and network congestionin both Russia and Ukraine. "The capex forecast for 2005 will not be too different from 2004," Sidorov said.

Tseholmsky added that MTS forecasts its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, margin to be in the mid-50% range. MTS reported an EBITDA margin of 56.8% for the second quarter, up from 53.6% a year earlier.

Sidorov explained that the margins are being affected by two different factors, helped by strong demand but also hurt by inflation.

Sidorov reiterated that MTS is interested in international expansion, but said the company is now looking not only at the former Soviet Union countries, but also to "other European countries." He refused to specify.

He did say MTS isn't interested in going to India or Pakistan, and recently changed its mind about buying an operator in Turkey.

Commenting on the recent purchase by competitor VimpelCom (VIP) of Kar-Tel, Kazakhstan's second-largest operator, Sidorov said that MTS had also bid for Kar-Tel and plans to enter the lucrative Kazakhstan market either by buying another operator or participating in a license tender.

Mikhail Susov, MTS' deputy president in charge of marketing, said MTS forecasts Russian mobile phone penetration to reach 45% by the end of the year, 65% in 2005 and 75% in 2006. "In Moscow the penetration rate will be around 100% by end of 2004," Susov said.

He said he agrees with competitors that it there is little commercial interest in providing mobile phone services to the approximately 30% of Russians who live in very remote areas. However, he said some users are expected to have phones with more than one operator, so the penetration level could technically rise above 70%.

© Anna Ivanova-Galitsina, Dow Jones Newswires