It all started in 1997 when a small group of brave entrepreneurs from Georgia and the United States met with Motorola to discuss their new project of Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications operations in Georgia.  The country itself is located in the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian seas.  This location makes it a major transportation route for oil and gas from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to Turkey and Europe.  This attracts big international and US companies (like Chevron, British Petroleum, Philip Morris and others) to Georgia. The word 'transportation' not only applies to oil and gas, but to the whole business environment in Georgia as well.  People travel a lot, primarily by car.  For this reason, the nationwide cellular coverage was a major goal for MagtiCom when it launched operations in 1997.
   While Georgia is not a big country (with the population of roughly 5 million) MagtiCom was able to attract a significant number of subscribers to its network from the beginning.  Being a Georgian-American joint venture, MagtiCom invested a significant amount of money into the initial system deployment and coverage.
   Motorola, the only supplier of base station system equipment to the MagtiCom network, has maintained an excellent relationship with this customer from the start. The project in Georgia is a very important business for both MagtiCom and Motorola and also a good example of friendship and trust between the operator and the supplier. While both companies maintain strict contract discipline, a friendly handshake has been and remains a trustworthy starting point for all projects.
   Currently, MagtiCom is a leader in Georgia's cellular market with about 200,000 subscribers of the network. However, demand from the market keeps growing, as does the competition. Therefore, MagtiCom is planning to keep its network fully equipped with the latest features and functions. The company has introduced a pre-paid system, short messaging services (SMS) and the wireless application protocol (WAP) gateway in addition to the already existing voice-mail. MagtiCom quickly became one of the few operators in Eastern Europe offering a broad range of the available GSM services and features to its subscribers.
   However, that was not all. Last year MagtiCom management made a decision to introduce the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) in Georgia. The contract was signed with Motorola and GPRS deployment started in Q2 of 2001. This project is also a good example of an excellent teamwork of MagtiCom and Motorola engineers:
 · On July 26, 2001, Magticom announced successful completion of the first GPRS call within its wireless network;
 · On January 30, 2002, the commercial service based on Motorola's unique GPRS technology was launched for a regional office of the Bank of Georgia.
   This great achievement will not only help MagtiCom to be the most advanced operator on the market but also stays in line with its ambitious plans to remain the largest cellular operator in Georgia. The most notable outcome of these efforts is that the latest and greatest technological innovations are being immediately made available to the people of Georgia through the hard work of MagtiCom employees.
   The last several years in Georgia have also been a great experience for all Motorolans involved in the MagtiCom business. We trained a small but very talented team of local managers and engineers who support the project in Georgia and other countries throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA region). For example, Levan Vachnadze, our first employee from Georgia, was named the best program manager in the EMEA region for his outstanding work in Egypt. And for all of us it is not only business, but also a good opportunity to explore the great and ancient culture of this country and well-known hospitality and friendship of the Georgian people (and don't forget the famous 'hinkali'!).  Motorolans in many different countries (USA, UK, and Russia, to name just a few) enjoy their work and relationship with such a great customer as MagtiCom.

Alexander Uporin
International Area Manager
CIS and the Caucasus
Motorola