Russian conglomerate AFK Sistema has reportedly acquired licenses for mobile services in border areas of China, just days after the company was linked to expansion into Bangladesh via acquisition of a local operator. According to TelecomPaper, which cites an Interfax report, Sistema’s chairman of the Board, Vladimir Evtushenkov, told Russian president Dmitry Medvedev about the plans.

Sistema controls the majority of shares in Russian telecoms operators MTS, MTT, MGTS, SkyLink and Comstar, and has recently announced plans to launch mobile services in 19 telecoms circles in India and become a top five operator there by 2017, via its local subsidiary Shyam Telelink. Meanwhile, Nortel announced today it has been selected by Comstar to develop the first mobile WiMAX network in Moscow. 160 basestations are expected to be built in the city by the end of 2008, using the 2.5-2.7GHz frequency band. The overall investment in the project is expected to amount to approximately US$20 million in 2008. Earlier this week, Comstar completed a WiMAX network rollout in Armenia, using kit from Airspan Networks.