On September 21, 2006, Chelyabinsk Region Court of Arbitration carried out a preliminary trial of the lawsuit brought by Chelyabinsk Cellular Communications Ltd. (the company uses Tele-2 as its trademark) against Chelyabinsk Department of Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service. The lawsuit concerns an order issued by the defendant that is now being disputed by the plaintiff.

The region’s three major cellular communication operators, MTS, UralSvyazInfrom, and Beeline, had earlier complained about Chelyabinsk Cellular Communications Ltd. using a disputable slogan (Tele2 is always cheaper), which led to an investigation by Chelyabinsk Department of Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service. As the spokesperson for the Service Natalia Saprykina said to UrBC representative, their experts agreed on most of the points with the three operators, as the only tariff offered by Tele2 that actually complied with the daring slogan was Mechta (Dream). The representatives of the company explained that they had only meant the slogan for that particular tariff, yet it was not always clear from their advertisements. To make matters worse, sometimes the name of the tariff would be omitted entirely. Chelyabinsk Department of Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service made the offender launch a counter-advertising campaign that would make up for the inadequate claim.

The Service experts forecasted as early as June that Tele2 would try to dispute their order, and this did happen. The representatives of Tele2 Legal Department refused to provide any comments. The first court sitting has been scheduled for October 19, 2006.