Aquafon is the oldest and largest mobile phone company

Mobile phone company

Mobile phone company is a company that manufactures Mobile phones. This type of company should not be confused with a Mobile network operator, which is a telephone company that provides GSM services for Mobile phone subscribers....

 of Abkhazia

Abkhazia

Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...

. In 2008, it had 80,000 subscriptions.

History

Aquafon was established March 6, 2003, and its network became operational on July 13 of that year. By April 2007, the number of subscriptions had reached 50,000 and, in 2008, this number had further risen to 80,000.

In summer 2008, Aquafon began to provide GPRS and video call services in test mode and officially launched its 3G

3G

3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...

 network with HSDPA support on September 30.

Ownership

51% of Aquafon's shares are owned by Mondeo Holdings, an offshore company

Offshore company

The term offshore company is ambiguous. It may refer to either:# A company which is incorporated outside the jurisdiction of its primary operations regardless of whether that jurisdiction is an offshore financial centre i.e...

 based in the British Virgin Islands

British Virgin Islands

The Virgin Islands, often called the British Virgin Islands , is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union, located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands make up part of the Virgin Islands archipelago, the remaining islands constituting the U.S...

. Mondeo Holdings is in turn 100% owned by Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

 based ComTel Eastern, which also owns 31% of MegaFon

MegaFon

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 ....

 and 50% of Sky Link

Sky Link

Skylink is a satellite service that offers Czech and Slovak TV and radio stations to residents of Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The package includes channels received without subscription and pay-TV channels....

.

Competition

Until 2006, Aquafon held a monopoly on the mobile telephone market of Abkhazia. In 2006, a second company, A-Mobile, started to provide services.