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Originally Posted by Przemolog
So, you want to say that if the USSR still existed, the only possible Soviet GSM operator might be similar to Best  ? |
Exactly!
However, I'm not sure there would be a fully functional GSM operator at all. I guess the Soviet economy had no chances in producing hi-tech devices, so they would need to import foreign cellular phones, but Soviet government always avoided import of consumer electronics etc., just few arrived here via partially unofficial channels and were sold on black markets. I guess there would be the only network that would cover only Moscow and Leningrad city centers accessible only for roamers and communist party bosses.
Or, they would make people using huge and heavy Soviet GSM phones, capable of calling and receiving calls only with no screens on them.
You didn't end your phrase about Transdnistria, what's about operators there? Actually, this stripe of land is much more USSR than Belarus, people say it often looks as time stands still there.
However, it's not a real country with 10 millions of people, such as Belarus.
You know, Russian landline monopolists usually provide some discounts for veterans and invalids too. However, these monopolists do not really work in the cellular business (in most regions, at least), so the cellular market here is completely private, with no state interventions and state methods of tariff constructing, so I've never heard here about any discounts for veterans on GSM tariffs. And, GSM is not expensive here too, veterans have higher pensions and grants than the others, so they often can afford a normal unprivileged tariff.