MegaFon ,previously known as North-West GSM, is the second largest mobile phone operator in Russia. It works in the GSM and UMTS standard. Its main competitors are Bee Line GSM and Mobile TeleSystems . The name "MegaFon" in Russian looks exactly like the word for a megaphone; other connotations are mega- as "big" and fon as "telephone". Its headquarters are located in Moscow. In 2002 the company changed its name from North-West GSM to MegaFon when it acquired several regional companies, becoming the first GSM company in Russia to cover all its territory. As of February 2007, MegaFon had... 30,657,864 subscribers. The company was founded by Finnish and Swedish national telecom companies, now merged into TeliaSonera along with the Russian holding company Telecom-invest. As of March 2006 A battle for control of the company is ongoing between Alfa Group and Jeffrey Galmond's party. The Georgian National Communication Commission has accused the Russian mobile telecommunications company MegaFon of illegal business operations and participation in the military and economic annexation of Georgia.
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