Georgia: Geocell

Geocell was founded in 1996 as a joint venture between the Georgian Ministry of Telecommunications and Turkish company Gürtel Telekomunikasyon Yatırım ve Dış Ticaret Anonim Şirketi (Gürtel) as the first GSM operator in Georgia.

Geocell began commercial operations in March 1997 and was granted a GSM 900 MHz operating license in April 1997. In 2006, the Company acquired its UM TS license (2100 MHz frequency), resulting in improved network coverage, added capacity and the possibility for prepaid subscribers to use 3G technology. As of December 2010, Geocell had 2 million subscribers.