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"Kazakhstan will tender a GSM-standard frequency next year, hoping that a third mobile telephone firm would boost competition on the fast-growing local telecoms market, Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov said on Monday. 'We plan to put up for sale the 1800 (megahertz) frequency on the telecoms services market to create a tougher and more competitive environment for mobile phone operators. We plan to do so next year,' Akhmetov said. The number of mobile phones users has reached 3 million in the Central Asian nation of 15 million, outstripping its 2.5 million fixed-line users. GSM Kazakhstan, majority owned by Nordic telecoms firm TeliaSonera and Turkey's Turkcell , dominates the mobile phone market with 2 million subscribers. Kazakhstan's second GSM services provider is Kar-Tel, a subsidiary of Russia's Vimpelcom ." From Yahoo! News Asia, November 7, 2005.